London policeman Nick Rowan and his recently qualified Doctor wife - Kate move away from the city and go to the rural surroundings of Aidensfield, a village in the heart of the North Yorkshire Moors, where Nick's the new village policeman. Whilst they are still settling in, Nick's new section Sergeant, a Sgt Blaketon calls for Nick and takes him to see the local Rogue - Claude Greengrass and insists that he charge him with livestock worrying after his dog, Alfred killed a budgie! Greengrass admits Alfred did kill the bird and offers compensation, but Blaketon insists Greengrass be charged, despite Nick's reservations. The case goes to Court, but due to insufficient evidence, the court can't charge Greengrass as a budgie isn't classed as livestock. Meanwhile a local woman, Georgina Fraser tells Nick that she has a prowler at her house and one night she calls Nick out when the prowler returns. She then see's him at the village pub, the Aidensfield Arms, and Nick goes to see the Landlord

Nick investigates two mysterious barn fires that have happened recently. A young woman is also assaulted in a barn by her new boyfriend. The woman is persuaded by her friend, Sandra Murry (Alan Maskell's girlfriend) to report him to the police. It turns out that the woman's boyfriend is also the arsonist responsible for the barn fires. Meanwhile a local woman's horse keeps escaping from it's field and Nick is concerned that it will cause an accident. Kate has another argument with Ferrenby when she puts the unmarried Sandra Murry in touch with the family planning Clinic over birth control. And Greengrass gives Nick a tip-off about a poaching gang and when to catch them. The police organize an operation to catch the poachers, they catch a couple, only later to hear from Lord Ashfordly that a bigger gang cleared the river of fish further along.

A feud between two neighbours, a Mr. Chapman and a Mr. Radcliffe that has been going on for the past 20 years is getting really serious. Chapman blocks off a public right of way which leads up to Radcliffe's home. Ferrenby who is treating Radcliffe for diabetes is confronted by an angry Chapman when he tries to use the road, but Chapman demands he use another road. Ferrenby gets injured moving Chapman's blockade and asks Kate to help out with the practice. Meanwhile 3 young boys play a series of practical jokes on Chapman. They block his chimney up when he has a fire and he automatically blames Radcliffe who just so happens to be passing. He grabs Radcliffe and locks him up in his house, but Radcliffe is in need of his regular dosage of pills he needs to take due to his condition and is becoming seriously ill. Nick tries to calm the situation and tries to get Radcliffe out, but Chapman ends up locking him up as well. Nick however manages to escape and returns with Blaketon and Kate, bu

There is to be a big CND demonstration outside the Fylingdales early warning defence base near Aidensfield, and prospective MP - Paul Melthorn is to make a speech there. Workers take offence when demonstrators are putting up posters everywhere advertising the demo and Nick has to break up a row in the pub between them. In doing so one of the demonstrators gets injured and Nick gets accused of assaulting him. Ashfordly police in the meantime are informed to police the demo and Blaketon finds out that the American Ambassador is visiting Fylingdales at the time of the demo. The demonstrators campsite is then burgled and Melthorn's wallet, which contains incriminating pictures of him having an affair with a young woman are stolen. The demo takes place and the road is blocked with demonstrators. Melthorn makes his speech but becomes ill and Kate arrives to treat him and discovers he has a weak heart. It turns out that the demonstrator who accused Nick of assault is in fact a Special Branch

There is an outbreak of sheep rustling and one of the victims who is renowned for naming his sheep accuses Greengrass of the crime. Greengrass ends up in court and is convicted, but Nick discovers holes in the evidence and realizes that Greengrass had been set up. Meanwhile Alan Maskell who is on bail does a runner to London. But unknown to him his wife Sandra suffers a miscarriage at the same time. Nick in the meantime is asked to go for an interview to join the drug squad team at Scotland Yard, which would guarantee a promotion to Sergeant. He decides to go for the interview despite Kate opposing the idea of returning to London. Whilst there he promises Sandra that he'll find and bring back Alan. Whilst in London Nick finds Alan in a night club, then there's a drugs raid by police and Nick sees them plant the evidence. Nick is arrested along with everyone else. Nick later files an official complaint about the officer in charge of the raid. He's then offered the job with the drug squa

A market traders van is hijacked and stolen on the moors. Nick starts to investigate and suspects Lord Ashfordly's son, who he later arrests for drink driving. Kate unintentionally starts a chicken pox epidemic when she starts a mother and baby group. Nick spots Claude wearing a brand new pair of boots several sizes too small which turns out to be part of market traders stolen stock. However, he doesn't think Claude is involved, but Blaketon disagrees. A local girl is pregnant and confides in Kate as to whom the father is. Nick later identifies the hijacker as Lord Ashfordly's new chauffeur, who also turns out to be the father of the local girl's baby.

An elderly widower, a Mr. Miller from London comes and stays in the village and stays in a boarding house opposite the police house run by Mrs. ?. Milner however is not a well man and has to visit Kate at the surgery. Meanwhile Claude has been asked to do a barn clearance, and Nick buys the remains of an old MG off him for only £25. Claude dramatically underestimates its real value and is later annoyed by this, and complains to Blaketon. Milner it seems has an old grudge against Nick and he wants his revenge. It turns out that when Nick was down in the Met he arrested Milner's granddaughter after she stabbed her husband in self defence. Milner now wants to hurt Nick, the way Nick hurt him. He takes Kate as a hostage and is armed with a pistol. Kate manages to talk Milner round because she has to rush off to give a young girl a vital injection.

A black soldier called Ken Marston who is on exercises in the area has been getting bullied by his racist Sergeant - Sgt Nicholls. Nicholls follows Marston during the exercise and intends to shoot Ken as he's reported Nicholls to his superiors. However on top of a cliff face Nicholls and Kenget in a confrontation and Nicholls falls. Ken then goes on the run thinking he's killed him. Meanwhile Nick investigates a break in at a farm and suspects Claude is responsible. and is on the run after he thinks he has killed him. He starts to search for a childhood friend who lives in the area. He finds his friends wife and son, only to discover his friend is dead. Meanwhile Kate is treating his window whose son is seriously disturbed by his fathers death, may have to be taken into care. The widow blames Kate for this, believing that she contacted the authorities, when in fact it was Ferrenby. The situation is sorted out eventually, with the help of Alex and Kate and the boy is able to stay with h

Rosie, the wife of local villain, Terry Tinniswood takes an overdose and Nick and Kate are left minding her children. Once she's recovered, Rosie tells Nick her husband is in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Nick finds evidence to support Rosie's claims that her husband was fitted up, possibly by Nick's predecessor in Aidensfield, Rowley Carsons who suddenly retired from the force. Blaketon warns Nick and tells him to leave it, insisting Carsons retired because he had Cancer. Nick who now believes that there was some sort of cover up persists with his investigation. Carsons turns up and confesses to fitting Tinniswood up by planting evidence in his truck. Meanwhile Phil is to marry his girlfriend who says she's pregnant. but he later finds that she has been seeing her ex-boyfriend who turns out to be the man who beat up Phil at his stag night.

Phil goes to meet a girl while he should be on his beat, at the same time a pawn brokers in Ashfordly is broken into. Following a tip-off, Nick learns that the stolen goods are hidden in a lock up rented in Phil's name. Nick realises that someone is trying to frame Phil, but Blaketon suspends him pending further inquiries. Meanwhile Greengrass gets involved in a betting scam, which involves substituting one greyhound with another. A local man called Scarman is the instigator of this plan, and Nick discovers that Scarman's girlfriend is in fact the girl that Phil is seeing. Nick cannot prove that Scarman set Phil up, but there is enough evidence to let Phil off the hook and arrest Scarman. The woman confirms that Phil was with her on the night of the burglary.

A German American called Victor Kellerman arrives in the village with the intention of killing a local landowner, a Mr Lessor. He attacks Lessor but he cannot go through with it and leaves the area. Kellerman is later arrested and Nick is assigned to escort him back into the area. It is revealed that Lessor was a SS traitor and responsible for sending Kellerman and his family to Nazi concentration camps during WW2. Meanwhile Kate is treating Lessor for diabetes, and when he realises he will have to go to court he takes an over dose of insulin. Without him the evidence is incomplete and the charges are dropped. Tragedy strikes when Dr Alex Ferrenby drowns whilst fishing, he died of a brain hemorrhage. And Greengrass helps some gypsies organise some bare-fist fighting.

Mentally handicapped man - David Stockwell who lives with his elderly mother hears dogs barking in the woods at night and goes to investigate, but his mother follows him and gets injured in a hit and run when a Land Rover cuts her down in the woods. David runs to the pub for help and Nick and Kate get David's mother to the hospital. Nick asks David what happened and he tells Nick about the dogs and the Land Rover, however the next morning after David speaks to his mother his story changes and he insists she only fell. Nick suspects his mother is protecting someone and goes to the hospital to talk to her, but she also insists she fell. Nick is still suspicious and continues his investigation into the accident. Meanwhile David finds an injured badger in the wood and takes it home and with Kate's help nurses it back to good health. Nick meanwhile suspects the Land Rover was driven by badger baiter's and Claude shows him a recently dug up badger set near David's home. Nick then goes to see

Inspector Crossley from Whitby arrives at the police house to see Nick, but is angry to find the police house being used as a doctor's surgery by Kate. Crossley then goes to Ashfordly station where he's been expected expressing his annoyance about the situation. Blaketon and Nick both assure him however it's just a temporarily situation until Kate can find a new surgery. Crossley also informs Blaketon of some major changes in the Ashfordly area, which will include a far bigger beat for Nick. Kate in the meantime goes out with her old friend Sally, who's also a GP for a drink and a general chat. Sally tells Kate of a job that's going in Whitby, but Kate isn't interested. Sally then puts Kate's name forward to a Dr. James Radcliffe who owns his own practice in Whitby. Radcliffe writes to Kate offering her a job with his practice and Kate is then tempted to take him up on his offer, but Nick however is reluctant to leave Aidensfield. A coach trip meanwhile is organised to hear Gina sing a

Insp. Crossley suspects an old woman of being responsible for an attack of food poisoning, but Kate soon discovers it was due to something entirely different - arsenic poisoning from old wall paper. Nick points out to Blaketon that the Insp. hasn't been keeping CID fully informed which soon puts an end to his presence in Ashfordly. The police are also surprised to discover that their new Inspector is a woman - Insp. Merchison!

Nick and Alf go on a fishing trip to Whitby. Alf is looking forward to a weeks holiday but Nick is there undercover to investigate smuggling. Nick finds out that a container dumped at sea contains counterfeit money. Alf teaches Nick about fishing and they organise a game of poker with some of the suspected smugglers. Nick takes this opportunity to force his opponent to hand over some of the counterfeit money. They are lodging with the Stirling's who own a sailing shop. Jake Stirling helps Nick and Alf set a trap for the smugglers and they are caught. Jake's girlfriend finds out she's pregnant and he wants her to have an abortion. Kate tells her its illegal. Blaketon is taking over Nick's patch while he's away which gives him a great opportunity to keep an eye on Greengrass. However he fails to find out that he's doing a very good trade in venison!

There is a rugby match between the harbour men and the North Riding Police. At the pub afterwards Gina has fun flirting with one of the harbour men and with Phil. As she is driving home she notices that she is being followed. She panics, stalls her car and is chased into the woods. Greengrass notices that a young girl is in trouble and tells Nick unaware that it was Gina. Kate coaxes what happened out of her and Nick reports the crime. Inspector Merchison doesn't believe Gina, which infuriates Kate. Phil's tie is found in Gina's car, but Blaketon assures him that no one suspects him. Phil, Nick and PC Little unofficially question the harbour man from the pub and he is arrested under suspicion. Another girl in Whitby is also being followed, but luckily Nick is around when he makes an attack.Gina comes in for an identity parade and it turns out that it was PC Little who was responsible. Gina threatens to return to Liverpool just as a run away pig comes into the pub! - everyone has fun tr

Susanna Temple Richards (Played by Jenny Agutter) is having an affair with a local man. Her husband is often seen drinking, so Susanna puts sleeping pills in his whisky to prevent him joining her on the hunt the next day. But he turns up anyway and takes a fall whilst riding, hits his head and dies. There is an enquiry and high levels of sleeping pills are found in his blood stream. Susanna is arrested. (‘The Laid Plans' in series 6 carries on from this) Archie Cutter has died and Claude asks Nick if he can look after his poultry and he agrees. But later Blaketon tells Nick, Archie was a notorious cock fighter.

Nick and Kate's relationship is really put to the test. Nick is slacking in his work, whilst James that her quality of work has also reduced. Nick confides in Blaketon and James is there for Kate to talk to about their problems. Kate tells Nick she is pregnant but he is a lot more keen than she is and is upset when she suggests bringing up the baby on her own, because of their ‘unworkable marriage'. Kate ends up performing first aid on top of a church roof, and Nick is annoyed at her for taking the risk going up there, but she informs him simply that its ‘her job'. Later the situation is reversed when Nick arrests a man with a knife. In the final scene Kate tearfully realises the baby and their marriage is most important and is upset to think she may have ruined her and Nick's special time, but Nick comforts her, telling her everything will be all right and the couple make up happily.

Kate arranges with James to do only 2 surgeries a week in Whitby as originally planned and James would help out in Aidensfield when necessary. A feud amongst a local family turns nasty and the police soon learn there's a lot more raw emotion and conflict behind the trouble as they find out more about the families recent past. Billy an of friend of Gina's turns up, who has just been released from prison. He buys Gina a stolen record player from Claude - of which Blaketon is of course suspicious! Nick and Kate are looking forward to the birth of their new baby, Nick even buys a set of toy soldiers! Kate is craving banana and marmite sandwiches or is it chips and ice cream!!

A man comes to Aidensfield who has mislaid his suitcase on a train.. The suitcase contained his wife's ashes. His purpose for his visit was to try and make peace with his mother in law after a fierce misunderstanding years ago.. There is a village fete with everyone involved, whilst the police uncover some weapons from a hot dog stand. Alfred is supposed to enter the Lurcher Challenge Cup race but unfortunately George lets him loose on the ale.

Lady Whitly complains that she has had Christmas trees stolen. Kate is treating a young boy with breathing problems. His brother and sister are the ones selling the stolen Christmas trees to make money to send their brother to Switzerland which would benefit his health. Lady Whitly at first refuses to drop the charges against the children but later has a change of heart. Kate asks Claude to play Santa and he reluctantly agrees. Nick forgets to buy the turkey so he ends up buying a huge one from Claude! Thinking Blaketon would be alone at Christmas, Nick asks him to Christmas dinner, but he ends up bringing his son along as well. Kate knew nothing about the invitation so she looks a little surprised when she finds out they're cooking for four!

There is a village dance, everyone is having a good time until a group of rockers start to cause trouble, and throw what they think is a piece of lead through the window. But this ‘lead' turns out to be gold, which was part of a large amount that was stolen 7 years ago. Kate isn't feeling well and starts to get worried about her symptoms, but doesn't voice her concerns. One of Kate's patients Nettie Pickard has a wishing well in her garden, and Kate , suddenly feeling superstitious, makes a wish. Nettie's house is later trashed. The man responsible was a local councillor who was searching for the rest of the gold because he knew it was Nettie's husband who found it originally and thought it must have been hidden in the house. He is later caught digging the gold out of the well. Kate is willing the baby to arrive.

Kate comes out of hospital with baby Sarah. The atmosphere is extremely sullen and Nick neglects his work, which doesn't go down well with Blaketon. Nick receives reports of prowlers hanging around at night, but he doesn't do anything about it. The next day Mr Copeland complains to Blaketon about Nick's inefficiency and about a tank of petrol he has had stolen. Blaketon is on the warpath and unaware of Kate's condition, goes round to the police house and tears a strip off Nick. Kate realises she can't keep it a secret any longer so Nick finally tells Phil the bad news. Blaketon feels awful for what he said and goes back to apologise. Kate is finding it difficult to cope and asks Nick to take her for a picnic in the hills. But this has disastrous repercussions when she goes down with pneumonia, which immediately worsens her condition. Emotions are running high, and by the time Kate dies everything comes to a head. After the funeral, Nick sees David Stockwell with a petrol can, realising

Ruby asks Blaketon to dinner, they then meet on a number of other occasions, Phil and Alf enjoy teasing Nick over his mum's potential romance with Oscar! - but to Ruby's disappointment, Blaketon doesn't take the hint, and Ruby pronounces him ‘dead from the neck down'! An illiterate man , Eddie is outraged when a cottage to rent was promised to him by his Aunt but it ends up being sold. His girlfriend calls of their wedding because they don't have a house. Another man is after his girlfriend and sets out to frame Eddie for smashing several windows, but Nick eventually uncovers the truth. Greengrass tries his luck at selling some of his property, but it back fires. Auntie Eileen comes to visit, but the way Ruby sees it is that it leaves her free to go back to London, as she assumes Eileen will stay and help out for a while - which as we know, it ends up being a bit longer than that!

This episode is a strange but good one! Alf is witness to a UFO sighting but can‘t remember what happened. Maggie suggests that Alf should see a hypnotist to fill in the missing moments. Blaketon is keen to cover it up and puts Alf on sick leave. Nick argues that there's nothing wrong with Alf. Alf however is worried that his experience might put his job on the line. Nick encourages Alf to stick to his guns and helps him stand up to the authorities that wanted to put it down to his imagination. Eileen and Blaketon have a game of golf, and they spot an unusual triangle shaped mark on the green! Everything is sorted out in the end. Greengrass has won a cruise, but is terrified of sailing so he ends up selling it.

It is Katie's christening, and everyone is celebrating at Nicks house afterwards, when an old girlfriend of his, Gill, from the Met turns up for a visit. Nick and Gill are asked to go undercover to investigate the criminal activities of the owner of a well known gambling club. Blaketon thinks that Mr Armstrong is going to cheat in an up coming racing event by tampering with the favourite horse, ‘Fab Four'. The police are on to him, and he soon notices he's being watched so he kidnaps Gill and hides her in a horse box. Nick and Phil come to the rescue.

Greengrass is asked to put on a number of bets at the races for some rather unscrupulous characters. But before he gets the chance he ends up in hospital with a suspected appendix problem. Blaketon is afraid he'll have to retire and is tempted when Arnold, his friend offers him a job. A young boy has been assaulted and Nick suspects Arnold - Blaketon strongly disagrees. Nick investigates and finds evidence to suggest that Arnold could also be guilty of corruption. He ends up having an argument about it with Blaketon, who then storms out. Nick realises he's offended him and goes round to apologise. Meanwhile Blaketon has a chat with Arnold and realises Nick's right.

A long lost friend of Claude's comes to stay called Ellen Highwater, she moves in with him for a brief period. At first Claude takes full advantage of her cooking and cleaning but eventually she takes things too far, especially when she takes some of his money for the shopping and she even suggests Alfred should have a kennel! ‘Sweaty Betty' has a vendetta against Special Constable Cowley, who mysteriously goes missing. Betty is the suspected of having something to do with it but Nick is surprised when she tells him that she has an alibi, in that she was with her ‘boyfriend' on the night in question. Jo has to move out of her cottage when her dad can't renew the lease, but luckily Maggie offers her, her spare room.