Lost Loyalty

The Pritchard farm investigation has swallowed the whole squad. What started as a murder inquiry became a slavery case, and now the team is running a huge multi-agency operation. At the centre of it is Callum Pritchard's widow Evie, abrasive and foul-mouthed, brought in on suspicion of unlawful imprisonment and the killing of Michael Greenholme. There is not enough evidence, so she is released, and she wastes no time issuing a statement claiming police harassment. She also alleges that Gill reeked of drink when she arrested her, which is the detail that really lands. Allegations of harassment are one thing; an accusation about a senior officer's drinking is another, and Evie knows it.

Gill is taken off the case, and Rachel takes charge, determined to prove that Evie killed Des, the missing criminal whose fingerprints are on the baseball bat that killed Michael Greenholme. Des was part of the Pritchards' slave force, and he has vanished. Rachel wants him found for the obvious reasons, and also so that Gill can retire with her reputation intact. The bat is the key, and Des is the only one who can explain it.

But Janet is under investigation herself after the crash, and she is devastated. Her solace is Chris Crowley's calm reasoning, which is a quiet thread and a good one. Evie is incandescent about the drink on Gill's breath; she has all the ammunition she needs to discredit both the investigation and the woman running it.

Amelia Bullmore, Diane Taylor and Sally Wainwright wrote it, Neasa Hardiman directed. Ellie Haddington's Evie is a proper villain of the piece, with Pippa Haywood's Dodson, Steve Huison's Sandy Thewliss, Amelia Bullmore's Gill and the full squad of Suranne Jones, Lesley Sharp, David Prosho, Tony Mooney, Danny Webb and Delroy Brown in support.

Scott and Bailey are determined to get Gill to retirement with her reputation intact, and that determination is the whole episode. Loyalty, it turns out, is a working method.