London's Burning

Part of Blue Watch is at the scene of a flooded house, being forced to evacuate an old lady, her cat and her furniture. The others are enjoying a freshly refurbished fire station with new lockers and a new kitchen. They also have two new firemen as replacements for Malcolm and Kate - young cheeky firefighter Billy Rae and pompous leading firefighter Geoff Pearce from Bristol. Nick is not pleased when he sees Hallam's crew returning with all the furniture and junk they had to take out of the flooded house, but Hallam explains that the old lady's brother will put her (and her stuff) up. Blue Watch is then called to a house fire caused by a chip pan. A little girl and her granny are trapped in a room upstairs. The old woman cannot be moved from her bed and Billy proves his ability to get around with people by talking to her and calming her. Meanwhile Kevin and George come to realize that Pearce cannot be trusted. During dress rehearsals for Richard III., Cynthia makes another pass at Sicknote, but they are interrupted by a very suspicious Jean. Kevin wins a greyhound at cards, and invites the watch to place bets on him. Hallam goes to join Peter Jonah on the Fire Investigation Unit and Pearce takes over as Sub Officer. On the way to a shout, a speeding motorcyclist cuts the pump's way and Bayleaf knocks him over before crashing into another car which goes on fire. The firemen put the fire out easily, but Bayleaf is in deep shock over the motorcyclist who had turned up out of nowhere.

Acting Sub Officer Pearce annoys the watch by ordering them to check and doublecheck all the stuff that is to be returned into the newly repaired pump. Bayleaf is still on light duties after the crash and George does the driving. A young Indian flags them down on the street and takes them to the burning flat of some Indian friends. Blue Watch can put the fire out, but the Indian girls who were inside are fried and the young man breaks down in tears. The F.I.U. with Hallam and Jonah appears as well. Hallam tries to squeeze out some info from a bickering old couple. He suspects arson, but Jonah tells him not to jump to early conclusions - the fire had been caused by a badly fixed fuse. Sicknote and Jean are out shopping with Hallam and Sandra, when Sicknote spots Cynthia and fakes a bad back to hide behind some tins - much to Hallam's confusions. At home, Jean furiously demands an explanation for Sicknote's lunatic behavior, but guesses for herself that Cynthia is behind all this. George trains for a charity boxing match for the brigade. Kelly follows him into the shower after the training, but her seduction attempt is thwarted when Jaffa, Billy and Kevin burst in. At the next shift, Billy stuns everyone when he turns up in a hearse - his passion wagon (yuk!). During lunch Blue Watch is called to free a little boy who is sleeping hand-cuffed to a bench at the rivershore. A policeman shows Nick a hand-written note from his mother who has apparently committed suicide and left him behind. George and Colin fish the woman's body out of the Thames, while Recall talks to the little boy. Bayleaf gets anonymous phone calls accusing him of reckless driving. Colin's Mum barges in on Zoë at the kitchen where she works and starts a big row in which Zoë and her boss end up covered in chocolate. Half of Blue Watch goes to the dog races to see Kevin's dog "Blue Watch" race - and win. Colin comes home to find Zoë throwing a vase at him. On a party at the restaurant, Nick's

An elderly woman accidently reverses her daughter's car and crashes through the wall of the parking lot - several feet above the ground. She is left dangling with the front wheels in the air, but Blue Watch come to secure the car and help the woman to crawl out of the car through the back window. Hallam and Jonah are meanwhile investigating a fire elsewhere and Laura talks to Sandra about her worries for Jamie. Nick's crew goes to investigate a call about smoke issuing from a building, but they only find a group of homeless people who have lit camp fires outside against the cold. Bayleaf asks Pearce to help him in court, because he had been in the front seat next to him and can testify that he had seen the motorcyclist coming out of nowhere. But Pearce insists that he has seen nothing and can't help him. Sicknote and Billy can barely prevent Bayleaf from jumping at his throat. When Kevin leaves the station after duty, he finds his father waiting for him, having served his time in jail (again). Jean accuses Sicknote bluntly of an affair with Cynthia. Nick takes Diana to his flat and she stays over night. A boy who can't handle the fork lift in a warehouse, causes a crash and gets buried unter the fork lift. He has damaged a gas pipe and Blue Watch have to put on BA to enter the warehouse and get the trapped boy out. George wins his boxing match and the whole watch cheers him.

ACO Bulstrode calls Nick to his office to explain about the crash of a fire appliance with a motorcycle driver. Kevin tells George that his Dad has cancer. A man comes to the station with his little boy who has swallowed something and is close to choking. Nick rescues him with a huge pat on the back, making him cough up whatever was stuck in his throat. Patti Pearce arrives in London to settle down with her husband. Billy takes his newest girlfriend into his passion wagon. Bayleaf keeps suffering from nightmares after the accident. Colin tries to talk Zoë into having kids, but she insists on having her own career. Dossers have hidden in an old cellar where they get high on glue and cause an explosion. Blue Watch is called to put the fire out and Hallam joins them with Jonah and the F.I.U. While Bayleaf tries to evacuate a couple from a high window, one slips and falls off the ladder. Nick runs through the flames to save a burning dosser and crashes through the floor into the basement with him. Instead of taking charge, acting sub officer Pearce runs to help Nick, causing Blue Watch to act disorganized and without coordination. When Hallam arrives at the scene, he shouts at Pearce for his cock-up and takes charge himself, sending the others to evacuate Nick. Diana is just visiting Nick in hospital, when Hallam and Sicknote arrive, seeing him with his new girlfriend. They tell him about Pearce's blunder and do nothing to cheer him up. In the supermarket Claire is attacked by the woman whose husband was knocked over by Bayleaf, bitterly asking how she could be with such a reckless man . Bayleaf will have to go to court to defend himself against the charge of reckless driving. Hallam is not too happy when he comes home and finds the Pearces in his living room with Sandra. The whole watch comes to watch "Richard III". Jean catches Sicknote and Cynthia in the dressing-room. Nick gets a shock when he comes to visit Diana at home for the first time to meet her parents -

Sicknote is forced to spend the night on the couch with a black eye . At the fire station an inquiry about the bungled shout at the warehouse is held, but Pearce talks himself out of every responsibility. Bulstrode is not pleased that he blames everyone and everything except himself, realizing that they have landed themselves with a nice troublemaker in Blackwall. Scaffolding collapses at a building site, trapping people and a whole bus underneath. George evacuates a guy down a ladder, Kevin and Billy have to climb into the rubble where they manage to free a young woman. Nick is surprised when he gets a phone call from Kevin, who is deep inside the tangled masses of scaffolding in a shop. The guys are rewarded for their dangerous situation underneath the rubble, when they find the missing baby and get her out. Afterwards Nick and Hallam have a chat about their new leading firefighter. Kevin takes his parents to the race track. Sicknote comes home only to realize that Jean has walked out on him and stays with her sister now. Nick complains to Diana about her father being his boss, but she destroys his doubts. A new firefighter, young black Sally Reid, arrives at Blackwall, almost knocking over Sicknote and Pearce when she drives into the station rather recklessly. Just as the alarm goes off, Recall receives a phone call that Jamie has been taken to hospital. While everyone else goes on the shout, Bayleaf takes Recall to the hospital.

Jamie is in hospital, with Recall and Laura worrying at his bedside. Patti complains about the house Geoff has rented, demanding a bigger place where she can show off. Billy gets George to take part in a boxing match. On a shout, the men play a prank on newcomer Sally, making her think that the pump has been stolen, so that she is forced to run to the next police station. But she gets her revenge, when a police car stops the fire appliance on the street, asking Hallam and the crew to identify themselves as the pump in question has been reported stolen. Finally Sally creeps out of the police car, making clear that she has caught the guys out. Sandra is not happy, when the Pearces turn up at her doorstep to invite themselves for tea - just as Jean turns up as well. Unaware of Patti overhearing them in the doorway, she tells Sandra she is escaping Bert and plans to divorce him after his infidelity. Next morning at the station Sicknote is baffled to hear the gossip from Pearce and shouts at Hallam for offering Jean sanctuary. Hallam is fuming when he realizes who has spread the gossip. Kevin warns George that his next boxing match may be fixed. During night shift, Blue Watch is called to a deserted swimming pool. Two kids had broken in and one is stuck with his foot in the pool, close to drowning. Sally proves her swimming skills by jumping into the water at once to support him. Colin's Mum and Zoë have another fight about him. Billy is told that George must lose the boxing match, because there is lots of money riding on his opponent. "The Terminator". He is lots stronger anyway and George gets an ugly trashing that leaves Kelly in tears of despair. Recall and Laura suffer when Jamie has to undergo another operation.

Billy has received his share of the fixed boxing match and being the honest soul, he is, he goes to offer George his share. But George is pissed off when he learns that the match had been fixed and Billy actually won money from his loss. When he turns up for duty with his battered face, Nick gives him a reprimand and sends him home. Sally reluctantly allows her boyfriend Eddie to lend her car while she is on duty. During night shift they have to free a couple who got stuck in their car in a very peculiar position after the guy slipped a disc. They have to cut the roof off to free them. Billy gets into trouble when he refuses an order by Nick and teases Kevin almost into a fist fight. Patti goes to visit Jean in an attempt to make friends, but Jean doesn't appreciate her sticking her nose into other people's business. Sally is mad, when she leaves the fire station after the shift and finds that Eddie hasn't returned the car. He turns up with the car and flowers after four days. On a long walk, Bayleaf finally proposes to Claire - she accepts. Blue Watch is just putting out a small fire, when young joyriders, chased by the police, crash into a tanker and cause a huge blaze at a petrol station. Hallam bravely darts through the flames to help two guys out of the station shop. Leaking fuel causes the fire to spread to the used car lot next door, igniting several cars. Nick drives the pump towards a roof to help people escape from the first floor onto the roof of the pump. Sally helps to evacuate the rest via the long turnable ladder. The whole area is covered in foam, making it look like after a snowstorm.

Maggie has gone to Thailand where she is enjoying herself with a Thai toyboy. Billy introduces Bayleaf to his Nan, who has raised him. Sally allows Eddie to stay at her place but resents his overtures. Hallam is forced to give Geoff lifts to the station and back home, after the Pearces moved into the neighbourhood. Recall returns to duty now that Jamie is getting better. Eddie is just about to lend Sally's car without asking, when George catches him and Sally angrily sends him away. Two boys play a prank on the manageress of a laundrette by locking her in the office and setting the machines to produce huge masses of foam. Billy and Colin wade through the foam in BA to free her. Hallam and Sandra are driven to hiding behind the sofa, when the Pearces come for yet another visit. Three drunk football fans crash a party and throw a molotov cocktail into the house. The banners that decorated the hall, cause the fire to spread everywhere very quickly. A guy has a fatal fall from a flagpole. Sicknote climbs over the roof to save a woman and her baby who were stuck in an attic room. Jean, who is staying with Sandra, sees his heroic rescue operation on TV and is so moved that she decides to return home - telling a surprised Sicknote that he is "on probation" for the time being. Kevin, Billy, George and Sally go to the dog races but much to Kevin's surprised his so far very successful dog suddenly loses. He begins to smell a scheme. Bayleaf has to go to court about the crash between his pump and the motorcycle.

Jean is treating Sicknote extra-nice, happy to be home. Kevin hears from a stable boy about the fixed races and goes to thump Charlie. Blue Watch is called to a burning shed, where lots of fireworks are stored. When they explode, they cause a serious threat to the firemen, while the guilty pranksters only laugh. On returning to the station, Kevin learns that his father has died in hospital. He goes to support his Mum. In court, the car driver gives a tearful testimony, but finally admits that he saw the motorbike and Bayleaf had had no chance to avoid it. Bayleaf is found not guilty of reckless driving and Blue Watch goes to party at the Wilson's house. Nick goes to see Diana, but finds a stranger in her flat, erupts in jealousy and leaves again. The Pearce's have prepared a house-warming party, but nobody comes except some spooky characters from Bristol. Kevin gets a box from his dead father that contains lots of money - all the money he made from the fixed dog races. He breaks down in tears. Blue Watch is baffled when Maggie appears at Bayleaf's party with her Thai toyboy.

Patti is mad that nobody came to the party. Hallam is defrosting his car, while he has another row with Sandra and Pearce appears for his lift to the station. He is pissed off when one by one the firemen come to apology for not coming to the party, offering one or other lame excuse. Kevin attends his father's funeral. Blue Watch is called to help a worker who is squashed under a heavy block. Billy talks to him (he used to be at the same school as Billy) and tries to encourage him, but the man dies and the older watch members have to support Billy to overcome the shock and accept death as part of their job. Sandra can't avoid Patti in a self-service restaurant and tells her that Hallam may take a civilian job. Kevin returns the race dog to his previous owner. Nick is just talking to Billy about the incident, when Diana appears at the station. But Nick is stubborn and tells her that it's over. Sally takes Recall's elder son Ben to the swimming pool. Hallam goes to talk to Jon a h about a job in a security firm, but he is not happy with himself. Nick sends Colin on a course with the airport fire brigade at Stansted Airport and he enjoys himself with the modern special appliances there. Blue Watch is called to a seemingly small fire. Colin and Sally have to inspect the premises and happen onto an ancient theatre room where squatters have taken up residence. Colin fiddles with the curtains on the stage and a beam of lights crashes down on him. Nick takes him to the hospital. Zoë breaks down in tears, when she learns from Nick that Colin's legs are crushed and he will never walk again, but she keeps a brave face when she goes to see Colin.