Summary

Hampshire Constabulary in the south of England is a typical large provincial police force in the grip of profound change. This series follows the police as they investigate three separate cases.

The first episode focuses on a brutal murder. A woman’s body, burned beyond all recognition, is discovered lying in a cornfield on an idyllic summer’s day. Two days into the case, the police know their victim has been strangled, her body carried in a suitcase to a field near a tiny Hampshire village, and then set alight; but they don’t know who she or who killed her. Will theirappeal for witnesses help?

The second episode visits a specialist rape unit in Portsmouth; in other parts of the UK rape is bundled in with other crimes and conviction rates can be as low as five per cent. Rape is a uniquely difficult crime to solve. It often takes place behind closed doors with no corroborating evidence, and no outside witnesses: all too often it boils down to one person’s word against another’s. Can Crystal – a unit of dedicated officers – make a difference?

Arson is the focus of the final episode. In September 2007 someone flicked a lit match into a petrol can at a block of flats in Portsmouth. The fire that ripped through the building killed Kevin Holmes. Nine months later, his murder remains unsolved and there is nothing to indicate why he might have been a victim of arson. It’s not long before the police make a series of arrests; but can they find the evidence to make the charges stick?

Bafta winning director Patrick Forbes follows these stories of triumph and disaster, which expose the fragility of a system that too often leaves cases unresolved and without justice realised.