The Best Episodes Written By Alan Plater

Alfred Jussiaum is a safecracker. While he's on the job he finds the dead body of a woman in the house he's robbing. Afraid, he leaves town and asks his wife Ernestine to go to inspector Maigret and report the murder. Maigret goes to the house and the owner a dentist who lives with his mother denies there ever was a robbery much less a murder. Maigret is not convinced and he soon finds out that the doctor's wife who supposedly travelled to Holland the day of the murder hasn’t reached her destination and is nowhere to be found. Someone is lying!

Maigret's patience is tested when the crime boss he has investigated for years, Manuel Palmari, commits another jewellery heist. But when Palmari himself is murdered, Maigret works with the criminal's shady mistress, Aline, to find the killer.

Someone is decimating the ancient Smythe-Webster family of Upper Walden, and the bad blood between the villages of Upper and Lower Walden is renewed with a vengeance. First, young heart-throb actor Larry Smith (alias Laurence Smythe-Webster) dies in an explosion at a publicity event for a new film. House of Satan is based on a book by a local writer, the late Ellis Bell of Lower Walden - a village whose inhabitants are referred to by its Vicar, the Reverend Simon Smythe-Webster, as ""the weasels of the wild wood"".The next to die is Larry's uncle, House of Satan producer Frank Webster (Francis Smythe-Webster), electrocuted to death on his exercise bike. Finally, Barnaby's principal suspect, Danny Pinchel, the family's cook, is drowned in a large bowl of tomato soup...Barnaby realizes he is dealing with an historic grudge, and he enquires into the family's antecedents.

On a bank holiday weekend Lewis and Hathaway are called in when a top quiz competitor is found floating dead in the fountain of an Oxford college.

Set in the Balkans 1939. Newly weds Guy and Harriet Pringle journey to Bucharest where Guy is a lecturer of English Literature. Impoverished Prince Yakimov arrives in the city and struggles to find financial support, but a temporary job as a Fleet Street journalist could save him from destitution. Harriet befriends bourgeoisie Bella and members of the British Legation.

Commander Sheppey holds a clandestine meeting to organise the destruction of the River Danube. Guy feels guilty about not being on active service and is determined to do something productive. Harriet and Guy encounter an old friend who is in desperate need of their assistance.

The fascist Iron Guard increase their power and the British fall out of favour with the Romanians. Tension mounts as the fascists take over and the Pringles, with the help of Clarence Lawson, try to smuggle Sasha out to safety.

A despondent Harriet arrives in Athens and is overjoyed to see a familiar face. Yakimov and Harriet both pleased to find employment at the British Information Office. When Athens comes under enemy fire, a cigarette during the blackout results in a tragedy.

After their unceremonious arrival in Cairo, Guy and Harriet are forced to stay in an old brothel. Guy struggles to find work when it emerges that an old adversary is in charge of the English School. The Germans close in and Simon experiences the harsh realities of war.

An an attempt to help Simon recover from the death of his brother, he’s taken under the wing of those at ‘Garden City.' Harriet contracts dysentery and Simon is involved in a desert disaster. Harriet makes a decision about her future. Some last minute changes to travel arrangements lead to a major misunderstanding.

Guy struggles to come to terms with his apparent loss. A quick marriage, an emotional reunion and a sudden death change the lives of those at ‘Garden City’ forever.