George Robins is a second hand car dealer and well-known ladies man. He has disappeared. Blood stains were found at his country cottage. A local car thief, Harold Barnes, is charged with his murder, but Barnes claims that Robins has not been murdered but has faked his own death so that his wife can claim a large insurance pay-out. The prosecution will try to prove that Barnes has indeed murdered Robins even though no body has ever been found.

The spurned lover of a Church of England clergyman is accused of blackmail after threatening to expose their affair unless the vicar pays £400.

A military historian has been accused of libel by a British Army Major following the publication of a book on the British Army's involvement in the Korean War. The author claims that the Major abandoned his post and left his company of soldiers to be massacred by the North Koreans. The Major insists that he was the last man standing in the conflict and escaped to safety only after the rest of his company was wiped out. Was the Major a hero, or a coward?

Fulchester's notorious Curl brothers are accused of demanding money with menaces and GBH. The court will hear that the brothers had been conducting a reign of terror over Fulchester's club and bar owners through a Chicago-style protection racket. After refusing to pay the brothers for protection, a number of club owners suffered injuries ranging from falls down stairs, feet burned with electric fires and attacks with hammers. Indeed, one of the brother's own enforcers has disappeared and is believed to have been buried under the new M16 motorway foundations.

Town Hall corruption is exposed in this case, as two employees of Fulchester Borough Council are charged with fraudulently purchasing land which was at the centre of a planning permission wrangle. The land was then quickly re-sold at a much higher price than that originally paid by the council employees to the previous owner, a local market gardener, who claims that he only sold his land when he was informed that a new motorway by-pass would run through his farming land. Did the Council employees use their inside knowledge for their own financial gain?

Before his death a year ago, a renowned artist wrote a will in which he bequeathed his estate to his favourite model, Rose Messiter. The will is being challenged by his business partner Brenda Kingsley, who had been named as sole beneficiary in an earlier will written by the artist. She claims that at the time of writing the second will, the artist was not of sound mind. Ms KIngsley is now challenging the second will and is laying claim to the artist's estate.

A prison officer at Fulchester's Park Moor Prison is charged with accepting bribes to smuggle a number of prohibited items into and out of the prison by an inmate, who is also facing charges.

A 15 year old schoolgirl has given birth to an illegitimate baby. Within a week of the birth, the body of the baby has been found buried in the girl's back garden by police acting on a tip-off. The schoolgirl's father (the baby's grandfather) has been charged with the murder of the baby after it was discovered that the infant had been strangled.

A 21 year old man has been blinded after an attacker flung acid into his face. Was the attack carried out by his own cousin following a family feud?

A pensioner is mugged in a dark alley. two young black men are identified as the muggers in a local youth club. However, the defense claims that the identity parade was not carried out according to correct police procedure.

A man is left paralyzed after being shot on his own doorstep following an argument about a betting slip. Two brothers living next door stand accused of attempted murder but claim the gun went off by accident during a scuffle.

Count Alucard, a Dracula-themed illusionist, is shot dead on stage when a stunt involving a gun goes horribly wrong. His assistant (his wife, Rita) is accused of having tampered with the gun, killing him after discovering yet another of his affairs. did she purposely kill her husband, or was the gun faulty?

A wealthy industrialist who made his fortune in African mining projects has died and left his fortune to his widow and two children. However, an African man has come forward to claim his share of the inheritance by claiming that he is the son of the businessman from a previous, secret marriage to an African lady. Is he genuinely the son, or is he an impostor trying to fraudulently claim money?

A night security firm stands accused of attacking a young courting couple with dogs and truncheons after they had entered a private development via a hole in the perimeter fence. The couple claim the attack took place outside the fence after they had left the premises. The firm's right to use truncheons is also being questioned by the prosecution.

A retired lawyer decides to defend himself in court after he is charged with shoplifting.

An estranged wife has accused her husband of rape. The husband denies the charge and claims that his wife has made up the allegation in anger after he refused to increase her maintenance payments.

A construction company building a suspension bridge is being sued for compensation by the wife of a workman who has been badly injured in a fall from the bridge. The prosecution claims that the workmen had not been provided with safety belts. The defense insist that safety belts were available, but the workman chose not to wear one and may even have been drunk when he fell from the bridge.

A militant trade union activist is accused of stirring up trouble on a picket line outside a newspaper headquarters. The defense are suggesting that there is a political motive behind his arrest but the judge has insisted that the trial must not be turned into a political debate.

A gang of four criminals have raided a warehouse and a night-watchman has been shot and seriously wounded. Two of the gang have been acquitted of attempted murder at an earlier trial. The third member of the gang is now on trial after finally being apprehended in Essex. The fourth gang member, the getaway driver, has turned Queens evidence in return for police protection and is now being used as a prosecution witness. Is his evidence reliable enough?

Fiona Gray is charged with arson after setting fire to her estranged husband's house. As her children were in the house at the time, the defense are claiming diminished responsibility.

Archie McNeil is a bigamist. He married three women under Islamic Law in Somalia, where he has business interests, and a further three women in the U.K. Is he just a hopeless romantic? (The press have dubbed him 'The blue-beard of Scotland'). Or did he, as the prosecution claim, marry his wives for financial gain? After being traced by a Private Detective to a hotel room in Scarborough, where he was on honeymoon with wife number six, Mr McNeil must now explain his actions in court.

Fulchester United's star striker Arnie Campbell's career is over following a foul by Porthampton City's hard-man defender John 'Chopper' Bates. Bates denies making the foul challenge and claims that one of Campbell's own team-mates was responsible. Did Campbell's own team-mate deliberately injure him after discovering that Campbell was taking bribes from a local bookmaker to 'throw' matches. The court will hear that bribery, betting scams and corruption have become a common feature of modern professional football.

Fulchester builder Benjamin Patch is accused of fraud. He became a national celebrity when he devised a revolutionary scheme which enabled young couples to purchase cheap new houses for just a one thousand pounds deposit. After the scheme collapsed, hundreds of investors have lost their money and are still without a house.

The wife of a university lecturer stands accused of perjury and perverting the course of justice. At a previous trial, she gave evidence against one of her husband's students, who was then convicted of stealing a valuable vase from the university. But the vase turned up at an auction three weeks after the student was convicted of stealing it.

A doctor, and the mental institute at which he works, are being sued for damages by a mentally retarded young woman. Whilst living as a patient at the mental institute, the young woman became pregnant. She claims that the doctor performed an abortion on her against her will and knowledge. The doctor is well known for his controversial views on genetics, which to some appear similar to those held by NAZI ideologists in the 1930's.

The Sunday Nation newspaper, and one of its leading reporters, are being sued for libel after describing a psychotherapy group as 'harmful' and 'fraudulent'. Stephen Harvesty QC, for the defendants, will try to convince the court that the psychotherapy group is indeed nothing more than a cult which forces its members to part with large sums of money for very little in return.

A Fulchester lady is accused of attempted murder after shooting a council worker who was felling a rare Black Poplar tree in her front garden. She claims that she did not aim the gun directly at the worker but merely intended to scare him and prevent him from carrying out his work in protest against the council's decision to chop down the tree.

Maurenn Sellers is accused of kidnapping a baby which had been left in its pram outside a Fulchester supermarket. She claims she had the mother's permission to take the baby, who she had previously babysat for, but the mother denies this.

The Personnel Manager of a metal factory is accused of stealing a coat belonging to the Managing Director. The prosecution claim that this relatively trivial offence was just the latest in a long line of petty crimes against the Managing Director by the accused, which began after he was served with a redundancy notice.

Barbara Airey is a hairdresser earning £1500 a year according to her tax returns. How, then, does she afford her lavish lifestyle which includes fancy cars and a private education for her two children? The Inland Revenue, and the prosecution team, want answers. Ms Airey insists that her three wealthy lovers lavish cash gifts upon her which enable her to live the sort of lifestyle that would require earnings in the region of £10,000 per annum.

A ten year old girl has accused a man of groping her as she made her way past his seat in the cinema. However, it is the girls' mother who is in the dock accused of blackmailing the man, demanding money from him in return for not reporting the incident to the police. The man denies the child's' accusation and claims that he had slapped her leg for being rude to him.

A Fulchester man is accused of dumping thousands of gallons of toxic waste from Fulchester Metals Ltd into a quarry, but claims he had no idea that the waste was toxic. Was he conned into dumping the chemicals by the boss of the metals company, who is also on trial?

An African couple are accused of deliberately trying to run over the man who, for the past nine years, has been the foster parent of their young daughter. It appears that a custody battle for the young girl between the natural parents and the foster parents has turned into something more sinister. The incident, which took place in a pub car park, appears to be just one of many in a series of unpleasant acts against the foster parents.

A 13 year old boy is charged with the murder of his 12 year old pal after suffocating him with a plastic bag. Was there a real intent to harm the boy or did a game they were playing go horribly wrong? The defense will try to prove that the accused boy was not aware of his actions and agree to have the youngster placed under hypnosis in court to prove a point.

A theatre production company is charged with breaching obscenity laws following the performance of a play at the Fulchester Palace Theatre. The performance, which included nudity and sex acts, led to dozens of complaints being made to the Fulchester echo. The defense insist that the trial cannot continue until the jury has watched a performance of the play. The prosecution insist that reading the script should suffice. The judge has a decision to make on this issue before the trial can proceed.

After previously being convicted of assaulting a police officer, the leader of The Thunderbolts, a local motorcycle gang, has returned to court. He's accusing the policeman of malicious prosecution, claiming that the officer bore a grudge against him after he dated the policeman's daughter.

A Belgian mercenary soldier is charged with treason after leading an uprising in Santa Isabella, a small British dependency. The defense argue that as the accused is not a British national, he owes no allegiance to the Queen and therefore cannot possibly be charged with treason.

Following an argument at a summer barbecue in Fulchester, a lady guest, Mrs Lawlor, is attacked by the hostess, Mrs Blandford, with a heated kebab skewer. Mrs Blandford stands accused of malicious wounding. The accused claims that she slipped on wet grass as she was serving food and that the injuries were caused by accident.

An author is accused of blackmail after writing a book titled 'Just Good Friends?' in which he claimed that the close relationship between two eminent former M.P.s (one of whom has recently died) was of a homosexual nature. The author denies the charge and claims that he was offered £15000 not to publish the book by the surviving Member of Parliament, who wanted to keep the nature of the relationship quiet. The politician denies that the relationship was homosexual and claims he was blackmailed by the author.

Just minutes before his death through illness, Charles Laker told his doctor that he believed he had been cursed. Adelaide Vincente, the head of a little-known Fulchester witches coven, stands accused of murder. A witness from the medical profession tells the court of a growing belief among doctors that causing death and injury by witchcraft is indeed possible.

In the village of Chelton, just outside Fulchester, an elderly man is knocked off his bicycle and killed by a speeding green Mercedes convertible. The car is traced to a local wealthy businessman who now needs to explain why the car in question was taken to a local garage for repairs within hours of the incident. The accused denies causing death by dangerous driving. His defense counsel are claiming that the policeman dealing with the case held a grudge against the accused ever since a previous attempt to prosecute him on another matter proved unsuccessful.

her 14 month old son after he is admitted to Fulchester General Hospital with life-threatening injuries. The mother claims the injuries were sustained when the baby fell down a flight of stairs while she was busy dealing with a leaking washing machine.

Jack Smith is an aging ex-convict with a string of convictions. He appears to have formed a Fagin-like relationship with a young boy, Leo Trotsky. Together, they are charged with stealing copper piping from a building and also of using this to cause actual bodily harm.

School teacher Juliet Tomlin is accused of indecently assaulting one of her 15 year old pupils. She denies the charge, but it has come to light that the pupil, named in court only as Robin, recently spent two nights at the house of the teacher. Were the pair conducting an illicit affair, or did they simply become the victims of misplaced playground and staffroom gossip?

An Argentinian cattle rancher is suing a Scottish beef farmer after buying a bull for a record price at a Fulchester cattle auction. After the purchase, the bull was discovered to be infertile.

An acclaimed political author stands accused of the rare crime of 'incitement to disaffection', in other words, encouraging two young soldiers serving in Northen Ireland to dessert the army. The prosecution claim that the idea to dessert the army only entered the soldier's minds after reading his book, which criticized the way in which the British Army was behaving in the province.

The prosecution claim that the accused, Mr Bennington, was responsible for an arson attack on the home of a man who he suspected of having an affair with his wife. Mr Bennington denies the charge and claims that he was at home asleep following a heavy drinking session at the time.

A Royal Air Force squadron leader is accused of spying, a serious charge which carries life imprisonment. After crashing his car, diagrams and scribbled notes relating to a new design of bomb have been discovered in his pocket. Why did he have them? And why was a young Russian lady also in his car?

Dr Stephen Saul is a young Australian surgeon charged with manslaughter. It is claimed that during routine heart surgery, he performed a risky heart transplant on patient Eric Maple, who died during the operation. Dr Saul insists that he secured permission to carry out the transplant from the patient before the operation but Mr Maples' wife is adamant that this is not true. Another surgeon at Bellsides hospital claims that Dr Saul only carried out the unnecessary transplant to make a name for himself in the world of surgery.

Christmas episode