The Best Episodes of In the Heat of the Night Season 5

Gillespie's old flame returns to Sparta to settle some business matters and see Bill. When she is murdered he travels to Gulfport and meets his daughter Lana for the first time.

Director: Harry Harris

Writer: N/A

After Bubba's cousin adopts a baby her husband is blackmailed by the child's real parents - they want him to help them steal the payroll where he works.

Director: Harry Harris

Writer: N/A

A flirtatious schoolteacher is stalked by a madman.

Director: Russ Mayberry

Writer: N/A

A game of high stakes poker ends in murder.

Director: Harry Harris

Writer: N/A

Virgil's Aunt Ruda is the only witness to a struggle between Bubba and a young robbery suspect that ends in the young mans death.But her prejudice against the police -- and Virgil clouds her memory of the incident.

Director: Russ Mayberry

Writer: N/A

Bubba returns to Los Angeles to testify at a murder trial and is reunited with Pat Day as they try to protect Mike from killers sent to prevent him from testifying.

Director: Leo Penn

Writer: Joe Gannon

A man murders his business partner and frames the man's illegitimate daughter for the crime in an attempt to gain the man's business and his wife.

Director: Russ Mayberry

Writer: N/A

The lyrics to a blues song recall a murder that happened 50 years earlier.The victim - Sweet's grandfather.And the only people left with the answers are the bluesman who wrote the song and a retired sheriff.

Director: Vincent McEveety

Writer: N/A

A deputy provides protection for a cotton grower who is running a pot growing operation.But the deputy makes a big mistake when he wounds Bubba's girlfriend.

Director: Winrich Kolbe

Writer: N/A

The father of a man Gerard prosecuted kidnaps the DA's daughter.

Director: Leo Penn

Writer: N/A

Lonnie makes a heartbreaking discovery about a woman he dated in high school.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

A drug dealing slumlord is murdered by his accomplices.

Director: Larry Hagman

Writer: N/A

A doctor plots to eliminate his wife -- and his mistress.

Director: Vincent McEveety

Writer: N/A

Parkers investigation into a purse snatching reveals an abused woman.

Director: Reza Badiyi

Writer: N/A

Racists target a ceremony honoring a civil rights pioneer.

Director: Vincent McEveety

Writer: N/A

Althea fears for one of her students after her mother's boyfriend is linked to a criminal operation that has resulted in the deaths of several truckers.

Director: Winrich Kolbe

Writer: N/A

A restaurateur and her mechanic boyfriend plot to eliminate her husband, but their scheme backfires.Gillespie takes heat over a string of mailbox bashings.And Virgil soon regrets ignoring Parker's theory regarding where the vandals would strike next.

Director: Russ Mayberry

Writer: Joe Gannon

V.J. Trundel's widow takes Harriet to court to gain custody of Eric.But Harriet is determined that her nephew will not be raised in the home of the man who ordered the murder of her sister.

Director: Harry Harris

Writer: N/A

Gillespie learns that the son of an old friend is a compulsive gambler.The young man wants his father to pay off his losses.But when two gangsters show up from New Orleans to collect, his jealous sibling sees the perfect opportunity to get rid of his troubled brother.

Director: Winrich Kolbe

Writer: Joe Gannon

An ex-convict attempts to retrieve his loot from his wife and her new husband in this tongue-in-cheek episode.

Director: Harry Harris

Writer: N/A

A political prisoner who entered the country illegally,seeks sanctuary in a monastary.Gillespie and Tibbs find themselves at odds with Sheriff McComb when they try to help the man.

Director: Mario Philip Azzopardi

Writer: N/A

Gillespie,Tibbs and Father DiMarco must stand trial for harbouring a fugitive and obstructing justice.

Director: Russ Mayberry

Writer: N/A