Merseybeat - Season 4

Kim and Tom Vale return from their honeymoon to sounds of a scuffle in the next door flat and a child screaming.Tom goes to investigate and finds 11- year-old Callum being attacked by a thug looking for money. Both Callum and Tom are injured. But why is Tom, even though he got a clear view of his attacker, so reluctant to testify? At Newton Park police station, DI Pete Hammond knows the truth about why Tom Vale won't speak out but he too is reluctant to explain to Supt Jim Oulton. But when events take a tragic turn and the case becomes a murder investigation, it may be that some home truths will have to be faced by all parties.

PCs Larry Barton and Glenn Freeman discover a dead woman in the river. Her husband breaks down in the interview room and thinks he must have killed her while having one of his frequent stress-related attacks. DI Pete Hammond s delighted to have a result but Inspector Charlie Eden isn't so sure… Relationships are further strained at Newton Park as PC Larry Barton has to face up to the tragic aftermath of a police car chase which went wrong, while DI Pete Hammond and Charlie Eden find that past romantic liaisons have a habit of catching up with them.

PCs Jackie Brown and Jodie Finn are dealing with the case of a "home alone" kid.Young Lewis Roe has been left in the house while his dad has been cavorting in Majorca, but Lewis's mum left the family home some time ago. Can Jodie reunite Lewis with his mother? Meanwhile, the situation between DIs Pete Hammond and Charlie Eden has become increasingly tense – it's looking impossible that they can ever bury their differences and work together. But for PC Larry Barton, tensions of a different kind beckon – it's his wedding day

Kerry Johnstone is arrested for stealing a baby from a maternity unit, but is she a distraught mother who deserves understanding or are her motives rather more sinister? At the same time, DI Pete Hammond is investigating a local adoption agency. He needs to find out whether the agency is offering babies for sale to the highest bidders. He and DI Charlie Eden pose as a couple who are desperate to adopt, but playing husband and wife is rather too close to home as secrets kept for 15 years are finally revealed.Where do Pete and Charlie go from here? Back at Newton Park station, Liverpool footballer Danny Murphy turns up to make a presentation to Sgt Cartwright's under-11 girls football team. But for Supt Jim Oulton, an ardent Everton fan, this proves to be a step too far.

Maureen Bradshaw reports that her late father has had £25,000 stolen from under his bed – but the only visitor he had before he died was local priest Father Hopkirk. Early investigations discover that Father Hopkirk is coincidentally raising money to send a local boy to America for a life-saving operation – surely the priest can't be in the frame? But when it emerges that Albie Bradshaw is an exarmed robber, is a different kind of morality at work? Meanwhile, an unsound conviction comes back to haunt Sgt Bill Gentle (David Hargreaves) when he attends the funeral of a man he put away for murder. Gentle revives his former partnership with retired copper Bernard Oulton (Supt Jim Oulton's father) to turn over some old stones. Did they really get it so wrong all those years ago? And, if they did, who was really the guilty party?

There is a serial rapist on the loose but his latest attack ends in failure and is witnessed by a young boy. DI Pete Hammond needs to crack the case before the rapist strikes again, but Supt Jim Oulton, still feeling like a fish out of water as "the man upstairs", wants to be involved in the case too. It's crucial that the two men bury their differences to get a result. Station receptionist Natalie Vance's brother is brought in for stealing cars. PC Glenn Freeman believes he is fronting an operation that procures expensive cars to order and sells them on.When Natalie confronts her brother with the truth, she faces an agonising dilemma: does she turn him in to save him from a long-term career in crime … and the nick?

A young drug smuggler has been horrifically murdered, but the victim, Clare Robinson, is a model student with a blameless past.What could have convinced her to smuggle drugs into the UK from Jamaica? DS Roz Kelly, from Newton Park Drugs Squad, is brought in to help DI Pete Hammond but their investigations throw up more questions than answers, until they meet up with Helen, a girl Clare met while travelling 18 months previously. DS Kelly and DI Hammond know that Helen is hiding something, but the question is, what? All is not what it seems for DS Roz Kelly either. Who is the man who loiters outside the station, waiting for her? It seems that Kelly also has something to hide…

Fifteen-year-old Amy Wright has fallen in love with a man from an internet chat room. PCs Larry Barton and Jackie Brown are called in to investigate after Amy's mother raises concerns that the man might be older (and more dangerous) than he seems. Larry risks everything on a strategy of posing as Amy in order to lure the man out into the open… DS Roz Kelly (Claire Sweeney) has an unwelcome reunion with her armed robber father, Eddie Lewis. She suspects he's working on another job and warns him off. But taking a different kind of interest in Lewis's visit is DI Pete Hammond, who decides to do some digging of his own. An altercation with Gary Naylor, a local hard case with a reputation for selling guns, leaves Hammond for dead on a deserted building site. Can he be reached in time?