Skeletons fall out of closets close to home

Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman and her top dog squad round off another series with a case that digs up old bones far too close to home for Sandra's comfort…

The smell of trouble first wafts through the air when what's left of butcher Harry Eldridge is found more than 30 years after he went missing. Harry disappeared on the day the body of Dr Simon Lockhart was found hanging from a meat hook on his stall at London's Smithfield Market. Now, the health and safety bods have always been strict about what meat can be sold by butchers – and the human variety has always been a no-no. But is that why Harry went missing?

Time to stake out the meat market and talk to Julia Eldridge (guest star Diana Quick), Harry's widow. She's kept the business going with the help of Harry's old market mates, including butcher David Snow (guest star Ken Farrington). But what the team discovers is that Harry was not a nice guy – and he has links with Sandra!

Gerry Standing, meanwhile, is trying to keep his distance from the case. He's not a closet vegetarian, is he? No, it's his butcher cousins, Barry and Sid, who he wants to avoid. But why does he consider them to be the black sheep of the family?