The Detectives: Inside the Major Crimes Team - Episode Guide

A three-part documentary series focusing on Lancashire Police's major investigation team begins with an investigation into the rape of a young mother. The rapist found his victim through a dating website, but will Sergeant Sheralyn Melton be able to gather enough evidence against the suspect to be able to charge him? When a man is stabbed to death near Blackpool town centre, Detective Superintendent Andy Murphy launches a manhunt for the killer. The suspect, who has a previous history of violent offending, uses a number of aliases and travels long distances to different locations to evade being captured. Will the police be able to find him?

In the second episode, the detectives begin an investigation into an armed robbery at a post office in which thieves seized £186,000. The cashier tells police he was knocked out with chloroform by a raider, who is shown on CCTV wielding a gun before emptying the safe and escaping in the cashier's car. Something about the CCTV footage tells detectives all is not as it appears - the robber seems to deliberately place the gun in view, and the cashier seems prepared for him to attack.

This episode tells the gripping story of how detectives solved the vicious and shocking murder of businesswoman Sadie Hartley, from the first call to the crime scene through to the convictions of the killers Sarah Williams and Katrina Walsh. As no-nonsense lead detective Paul Withers and his team piece together the evidence, they uncover a tangled web of lies told by Williams and her accomplice Walsh, who claims to have no memory of the crime.

This episode has not aired as it was postponed due to unspecified legal reasons.