Bergerac

- Season 8

(1990)

Jim returns early from his voyage and stays with Charlie, who is getting ready to go to a trade convention. Susan is also due to attend but never gets there, her body being found next morning washed up on a beach. The pathologist suggests she was murdered. Crozier, recalled from head-quarters, arrests surly doorman Withers, the last person to see her alive and who bore Jim a grudge. Jim is more interested in John Tetteh, a West African delegate anxious to meet Susan. He is investigating a fraud perpetrated by his government and Susan's company, behind her back. ...

Shlomo Denkovitz, an incompetent fraudster, claims to be Jim whilst working as a private eye for his uncle, in pursuit of Giles Grey, a charmer who rooks wealthy widows. Chased by two criminals whose forged identity papers he has forged but mislaid, he has to be rescued by Jim whilst Charlie's friend Eva sets a honey-trap to catch Giles. In addition the drugs squad has unceremoniously taken over the bureau for a stake-out on the island - one way and another it seems unlikely that Jim will get the night's rest he badly needs.

Locals are hostile when a party of archaeologists embark on a dig with eccentric blacksmith predicting doom at disturbing a supposedly sacred site. Then one of the group is mysteriously attacked and another falls to her death from a cliff. Charlie also succumbs to the myth when he collapses at home but Jim is cynical. However, even he is taken by the surprise when the dig's leader Carol unearths what she is looking for.

Seemingly respectable widower Nigel Carter is threatened by two armed bogus policemen but his evasive response leads Jim to believe he is holding something back. Years earlier his daughter Joanna was kidnapped in Beirut and Jim suspects that threat of another kidnap is being used to force him into action on behalf of past criminal associates. The two intruders threaten to expose a guilty secret unless they are paid off or else Joanna will be taken again. Jim must prevent it and identify who exactly the gunmen are.

Michel Carbonnier, a French private detective, is found murdered in Charlie's house, leading Jim to the dead man's native village St. Armand in Provence. Here he learns that Carbonnier had recently come into a lot of money and had been hired by Danielle Aubry to investigate the suspicious death of her husband. Having deduced that Carbonnier was blackmailing the killer of Danielle's husband he solves both murders, as well - with help from Charlie - as uncovering a local wine production scam.

Former South African resident and ANC sympathizer Karen Markham agrees to shelter black fugitive Roland, who has shot a white supremacist policeman in Pretoria, until a boat comes for him. A local businessman, keen to trade with the South African government, sends for an Afrikaan policeman who tricks Charlie into betraying Karen. The result is a shoot-out, which does not endear Jim to Danielle's father.

Disaffected lab assistants Julie and Richard steal nerve gas from a research facility in Wiltshire and bring it to terminally ill Dr. Whittaker on Jersey. He threatens to release it unless he gets a million pounds from Sir Matthew Osterson, a former scientist whom he blames for his illness. Whittaker only wants what he considers his due but the young couple get greedy - and that helps Jim to catch them.

Jim befriends former pop idol Tony Hubbard, now singing at a local night club. The first night audience includes Dawn Gray, Tony's old flame and ex-singing partner whose surly husband Nick is less than enchanted by Tony's presence as the erstwhile duo still seem to have feelings for each other. Then Tony is found shot dead. Is he the victim of a jealous spouse or did he stumble upon something illegal at the club? Having solved the case Jim is joined on Jersey by Danielle, who has been disowned by her father.

It's a different kind of case for Jim as he goes to London on a private investigation into the kidnap of his ex-wife, Debbie, at the request of his father-in-law Charlie Hungerford.

With less than a month's service before he quits the bureau, Jim is recalled from his French holiday to help protect Per Wemstrom, a political economist whose enemies wish to stop him from attending a conference in support of Russian economic growth. Wemstrom survives an assassination attempt, after which Gillis, his male secretary, disappears, causing Jim to suspect his involvement. And what of the American, Colley, supposedly advising Danielle on viticulture but overly interested in Jim's work? Before he can retire to France, Jim must find who is out to kill ...

Jim is now at the vineyard and it is grape-picking time. One of the young casual workers is English boy Roderick. However, he is also a computer hacking genius who is able to transfer 90% of the previous day's takings on the Tokyo stock exchange into his own account. The son of the wealthy Hargreaves, he also targets Charlie and other Jersey residents. In addition to Roderick's activities Jim is recalled to the island when a consignment of hand grenades is discovered in a cargo of whiskey and a French connection is suspected.