The thirteenth series of the British television drama The Bill was broadcast from 2 January to 30 December 1997. The series consisted of 152 episodes, including three-hour-long specials. There were just two cast departures in the series after four the year before; actor Tom Butcher left the role of PC Steve Loxton after seven years on the show, however he would return in two episodes in 1999 as a guest at Dave Quinnan's wedding. The other departure was that of Alan Westaway, who left his role of PC Nick Slater after two and a half years. Their characters were replaced by PCs Luke Ashton and Sam Harker, with actors Scott Neal and Matthew Crompton appearing as guest actors on a number of times, both of the actor's most recent guest stints coming the previous year.

Season 13 Episode 15 - Say A Little Prayer

Quinnan and Page try to find the culprit who threw a television set from the balcony of a block of flats and narrowly missed Slater. Air Date : 6th-Feb-1997

Season 13 Episode 1 - The Old Pals' Act

Conway leads a raid on an after-hours pub, but during the raid, both Hollis and Keane are injured. Meanwhile, McCann and Slater stop a young boy trying to make an exit through the fire escape and find him in possession of cannabis and a substantial amount of money. Brownlow is called in when the boy is discovered to be the son of the local district judge. Air Date : 2nd-Jan-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 2 - All's Fair

McCann and Keane investigate when a man is found mugged having been sprayed in the face with Mace. Hours later, a woman arrives at the station claiming to have been attacked by a mysterious assailant, whom she rebuffed with Mace. Daly has to work out which party is telling the truth, and to prove it decides to speak to one of the man's previous victims. Air Date : 3rd-Jan-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 3 - Man Trap

PC Dave Quinnan and WPC Norieka Datta go to the scene where a teenage boy has been found dead from a massive electric shock in the flat of one of his neighbours. Dave knows the boy as he has arrested him before for burglary they talk to the tenant he tells them that he came home to find his flat broken into and the boy dead. It looks like murder but who would want to kill him ? Dave discovers a secret about the tenant and WPC Page finds out that the victim's older brother may know more than he is letting on. Air Date : 9th-Jan-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 4 - Bad Debt

George Talbot a loan shark reports his business records stolen DS Don Beech and WDC Suzy Croft go to talk to him he is glad that Don is handling the case as he tells Suzy that the two of them are old friends. SGT Ackland and WPC Page respond to an anonymous 999 call about an a woman being assaulted in her home but when they get to the address they talk to the woman who lives there Janet Ford and her daughter Lorna despite having a bruise on her face she tells them it must have been a prank and that she got the bruise from walking into a door both June and Polly believe that she was beaten and that it was her Lorna who made the call but with no complaint being filed they return to Sun Hill. After over hearing Suzy joking with the others about Don's shady friends, DCI Meadows warns Don about who he associates with and doing them favours. Lorna comes into the station to talk to June and Polly she tells them what really happened that a man hit herbecause her mum didn't have money he sai Air Date : 10th-Jan-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 5 - Professional Opinion

PC Tony Stamp and WPC Debbie Keane go to the scene of an arguement outside a flat on on the Jasmine Allen estate between a man and woman, the man tells them that his wife is inside but the woman won't let him speak to her she tells them that his wife doesn't want to see him. They calm the situation down and persuade the man to leave as he is escorting him away the man tell Tony that she hasn't spoken to him since their sons funeral because she blames herself as he died after he took some of her methadone pills thinking they were sweets but he doesn't blame her he blames her doctor who he claims is prescribing to patients drugs in stronger than recommened doses, when he is later arrested for trying to attack the doctor DS Geoff Daly and DC Rod Skase investigate and in doing so without first checking the computer to make sure no one else is already investigating her almost ruin a drug squad case. After being told off by DCI Meadows he tells Geoff to help the drug squad detective Dave Mc Air Date : 14th-Jan-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 6 - Testament

DS John Boulton and WDC Suzy Croft invetigate the sudden death of an apparently healthy middle-aged woman who lived alone, the F.M.E tells them that it looks like she suffocated in her sleep which he says is unual for someone her age not to wake themselves if they're having breathing difficulties going through her belongings Suzy finds a few things out of place in an otherwise spotlessly tidy flat as well as the fresh flowers Polly found in the rubbish bin outside that lead them to belive that someone else had been inside the flat recently. her boss tells John and Suzy that she was a quiet person and he doesn't know of anyone from work who'd been to her home. They find from entries in her diaries that lead them to an old friend of hers he tells them that they had met up again recently for the first time in almost thirty years and had been seeing each other for dinner once or twice a week and that he went arond to see her the day she died but there was already a man there he describes t Air Date : 16th-Jan-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 7 - A Policeman's Lot

PC Garfeld objects when a guard from a private security firm catches a suspected burglar he, Debbie, Gary McCann and Nick Slater were chasing after they lose him and is only to happy to believe the suspect when he claims that the guard assaulted him he begins checking him out and finds he has a criminal record for assault and when the comes in with tools used in the break in that he claims he saw the boy throw over a wall when he was chasing him George accuses him of being violent in arresting the boy and manufacturing evidence. While on patrol PC Stamp and WPC Blake come across an elderly lady who has been knocked down and may have been robbed, as it in the area controlled by the security firm they go to their offices to see if any of them may have seen what happened but the bossis less than keen to help because of the hassle George is giving his guard. When he later does decide to help people are not only able to ruin the boy's alibi for the time of the burglary but clear up how the Air Date : 17th-Jan-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 8 - The Devil You Know

George and Debbie attend a call about a disturbance outside a community hall where a birthday party is going on inside they put out the name of the suspect wanted for causing criminal damage Dave recognises it, he has arrested him for drug dealing and burglary he and Nick pick him up and take him back to Sun Hill he tells them he was there because of the birthday girl Amanda Ray he wanted her to go with him to another party but her boyfriend made her stay he admits the criminal damage he did it to get back at her. Later when Debbie and George find Amanda collapsed outside the hall from a suspected drug overdose her father blames the boyfriend for giving her the drugs and his father a teacher at canley comprehensive for not supervising the party very well. After Debbie arrests the boyfriend at the hospital for possession of cannabis he talks to George off the record and the truth comes out about who bought the drugs. Air Date : 21st-Jan-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 9 - Once Bitten

When an ex-girlfriend of Sgt.Boyden who left him several years earlier because of his refusal to quit the police is arrested and brought in Sun Hill Matt finds himself caught between his feelings for and DS Grieg's investigation into a drug smuggling ring run by her husband and her brother in law, but it soon becomes clear to him what he must do when not only does Grieg's investigation implicate her it also looks like she has lied to him about why she left her husband but also that she may be using him to find out how much the police know about her involvement and to help her avoid getting arrested. Air Date : 23rd-Jan-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 10 - Turnaround

A recently released paedophile is reported missing by his sister the only member of his family to stick by him when he was charged with abducting and raping a child she tells them it is down to his victim's father who has been harassing and threatening her and her brother since he got out of prison. DCI Meadows who ran the original case is reluctant to go after the father however DI Deakin persists and when DC Skase finds blood and other signs of a struggle in the man's garden shed but no body Meadows decides they have to talk the victim's father and that he shold be the one to do it he gets him to admit to following him and phoning him and his sister to tell them he should leave Sun Hill but he denies having seen him the day he disappeared or knowing what happened in his house. Later when evidence puts the father at the house shortly before he went missing Meadows and Deakin decide to follow him to let him lead them to where he is keeping him or where they buried the body but he leads Air Date : 24th-Jan-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 11 - Over The Fence

Sgt. Cryer and PC Loxton go to the scene of a disturbance between neighbours they manage to calm the situation down but when Steve recognises one of the neighbours from when he arrested him once a few years ago for burglary and then sees outside his house the box for an expensive computer which he suspects is stolen he and Bob find themselves drawn into another arguement between the two couples when they're both found to be in possession of computer equipment stolen during a ram raid robbery of a factory and each one claims to have bought it from the other. Air Date : 28th-Jan-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 12 - Grey Area

Irene Stanton a sister at St Hughes comes into the station to see DCI Meadows he agrees to talk to her even though he is busy so heand WDC Rawton listen to her as she tells them that last night Dr. Jonathan Forsyth helped an elderly woman to die she explains that herself and nurse Diana Holt were on duty and the patient Mrs. Southwell asked them to contact Dr. Forsyth and that when he came he told her and Diana to wait outside he then drew the curtain around the bed and when he came out told them she had passed away but she was suspicious because she saw him inject her with something other than the morphine he signed out from the dispensery then slip the vial in his coat pocket so she is sure he committed euphanasia so she came to the police rather than go through the hospitals official channels for fear they would cover it up. Jack and Liz Investigate they talk to Irene's Superior Angela Marant who tells them she is a good nurse and can't imagine she would make this up or that Fo Air Date : 30th-Jan-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 13 - One Big Happy Family

P.C. Garfield's complaint that Ch. Supt. Brownlow and Ch. Insp. Conway are out touch with real police work brings an unexpected response: Conway goes on a ride along with P.C. Page and Brownlow goes for a walkabout in the station - much to the annoyance of Insp. Monroe, who feels he is being spied upon, and Sgt. Boyden who doesn't want him hanging around in custody. Brownlow is in CAD and reprimands Nick over the air for not using correct radio procedure. When Boyden is called away, Brownlow takes charge of the custody area where he clashes with D.S. Boulton over a prisoner's detention review time. P.C. Stamp and P.C. Slater do their best to avoid returning to the station while Brownlow is on the prowl, until they take what they think is an easy call about a fight at a kids' football match that ends with Nick being punched in the face by an irate father who he then arrests for assaulting him and the match referee. Page and Conway get on the trail of two men posing as TV engineers to ga Air Date : 31st-Jan-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 14 - The Eye Of The Beholder

Datta is trying to secure a conviction in a domestic violence case, but the victim unwittingly leaves out important details when giving evidence. Air Date : 4th-Feb-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 15 - Say A Little Prayer

Quinnan and Page try to find the culprit who threw a television set from the balcony of a block of flats and narrowly missed Slater. Air Date : 6th-Feb-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 16 - Downfall

Daly and Skase investigate after a man is found dead at the foot of the stairs in his apartment block. Air Date : 7th-Feb-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 17 - True To Life Player

A football star's return to Sun Hill turns sour when he is accused of raping an underage fan. Boulton and Carver investigate Air Date : 11th-Feb-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 18 - Take Away

Ackland investigates a complaint from a prisoner that he was given a pizza topped with cigarette ends. Air Date : 13th-Feb-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 19 - Your Call Too

Croft and Skase disagree when they have to choose between investigating an assault charge and a cocaine deal. Air Date : 14th-Feb-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 20 - Breaking Up

Rawton investigates a woman's claims that her ex-husband's mistress is trying to kill her. Air Date : 18th-Feb-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 21 - A Price To Pay

Boulton tries to trap a roomful of crooks, but Greig gets his man. Air Date : 20th-Feb-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 22 - Just Looking

Boyden deals with a man stopped for soliciting who claims he was searching for his missing daughter. Air Date : 21st-Feb-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 23 - A Tangled Web

Deakin and Croft investigate when a man is found shot with his brother's wife, as two unhappy marriages reach crisis point. Air Date : 27th-Feb-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 24 - Rolling In It

Slater and Quinnan find drugs in a Lamborghini, but the owner blames his unemployed brother-in-law. Air Date : 28th-Feb-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 25 - Added Bonus

Greig tries to establish why a man has confessed to a burglary that he didn't commit. Air Date : 4th-Mar-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 26 - Holding On

Cryer and Blake respond to a young man's claim that his stolen car had his four-month-old baby inside, but Blake suspects that the man's wife may know more about her son's disappearance than she is letting on. The plot thickens when Cryer interviews the man responsible for stealing the young man's car and he claims that he fed information about the man's extra marital relations to his wife. Air Date : 6th-Mar-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 27 - Crime Management

DI Chris Deakin has a word to DS John Boulton about his team's informants. Boulton has done pretty well, but DC Tosh Lines hasn't recruited a snout for months. Under pressure, Lines tries to recruit Karen Walsh, the wife of the victim of a recent attack which he'd investigated, but she refuses to grass on her husband or his associates. Lines puts pressure on the Walshes' landlord Pat Beresford who he believes was responsible for the attack, and is delighted when Beresford contacts him offering information. Air Date : 7th-Mar-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 28 - Age Gaps

Boulton and Rawton try to persuade a teenage girl to turn informant after her boyfriend is attacked by drug dealers. Air Date : 11th-Mar-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 29 - In The Dark

A blind woman, Tracy Cooper, helps the police catch a dangerous sex killer. She doesn't realise, however, that the guilty party is her husband. Air Date : 12th-Mar-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 30 - Crying Wolf

Monroe is called in to mediate when a former mental patient is accused of threatening behaviour by his elderly neighbours. Air Date : 13th-Mar-1997  Read More

Season 13 Episode 31 - Confidence

Keane uses information supplied by a friend to help C.I.D. in an operation against a drug dealer. Air Date : 14th-Mar-1997  Read More