The Best Episodes Directed By Martyn Friend

As the series comes to an end, the desiccated, neatly carved-up body of a butcher who disappeared more than 30 years ago is discovered, leading Sandra Pullman and her boys to pay a visit to Smithfield meat market in London, the original murder scene. It's a pity the butcher is dead, because he has a few questions to answer about why the body of a doctor was found hanging from a meat hook all those years ago at the back of his market stall. It's an episode peppered with revelations. We discover Gerry Standing's very interesting family history - he's descended from French Huguenots and is thus tormented by his colleagues for being a fake cockney, much to his annoyance: "Je suis ang-bleedingglais!" he protests. But it's Sandra who has to face up to a startling personal disclosure that has a direct bearing on the case and also throws a whole new light on her father. For once Gerry, Brian and Jack are left completely speechless.

Brian finds the library card of cold case victim Dr Richard Symes, leading him to reinvestigate the death of the professor, who died after falling from the roof of his college three years previously. Sandra and Gerry interview Symes' widow, who believes principal Jeremy Ventham drove her husband to suicide following a conflict over teaching methods.

Rebus investigates when a number of women are killed with the same modus operandi as 'The Preacher', a prolific serial killer active in Edinburgh during the 1980s. But is a copycat killer at large, or has 'The Preacher' returned to finish what he started?