Episode list

It's a big day for Ripley Holden as he opens his new amusement center in Blackpool. Holden is a drinker and a philanderer who sold his other businesses to open on the promenade. He has grand plans as well, hoping to eventually open a full-fledged hotel-casino. On re-opening the next day, he finds a body lying on the floor in the middle of the place. The dead man also happens to be someone Holden had an altercation with in a club the night before; he denies to the police however that he knew or had even seen the man. DI Peter Carlisle is assigned to the case and Holden's attempts at bullying him - including a complaint to Holden's pal the DCI - have little impact. The autopsy reveals that the man had been dead for some hours and his body moved to the arcade after his death but Carlisle insists that the just opened arcade remain closed.

DI Carlisle continues his investigation and learns from the dead man's friends that he had left them after their bout of drinking to find a prostitute. He interviews several of the local working girls and although they deny ever having seen him, the police get an anonymous tip that he was seen heading toward the flats where they work. Carlisle and Ripley's wife Natalie meet for an evening out and she selects an interesting venue, one where her husband isn't likely to set foot. Ripley's son Danny is called in for a police interview about the murder. Daughter Shyanne meanwhile visits her ex-boyfriend and learns that it was her father who scared him off.

The forensic evidence indicates that Mike Hooley was killed with a blow to the head but also places him in Ripley Holden's flats before he was moved to the arcade. DI Carlisle tells him that he knows they had an argument in the club but Holden blows him off. He also has other problems on his mind, specifically that he owes 80 grand to the Inland Revenue and has no choice but to mortgage the arcade to raise the funds. Natalie and Carlisle continue their affair but he still hasn't told her he's a copper. Shyanne visits Steve who tells her that he was terrified of her father when they were at school together. They spend the day in bed but after he says goodbye to her at a bus stop, he is badly beaten. Shyanne is convinced it's her father's doing. Danny gets nabbed by the police selling drugs but eventually has another story to tell them.

Carlisle dismisses Danny's confession to the murder as just a youthful attempt to protect his father. He also tries to repair his relationship with Natalie, now that she knows he's been lying to her about his background. She still has feelings for him but trust isn't something he has inspired in her. Ripley Holden welcomes the planning commission to the arcade as he tries to sell them on the idea of building his dream hotel-casino on the site. He also visits Steve, who he denies having beaten up, in the hospital and buys him off, or so he thinks. Daughter Shyanne has some big news for him later. Danny, fed up at being a failure at everything he touches, decides to do something about it.

Having confessed to DI Carlisle that he moved Poole's body to the arcade, Natalie spontaneously provides him with an alibi telling the police that she had picked him up soon after he was dropped off at the flats. Natalie believes Ripley is hiding something from her however. It's obvious Carlisle is determined to get Ripley at any cost and his partner suggests to him that he may not be acting ethically. Carlisle decides he's right and takes himself off the case. He pursues Natalie and asks her to leave Blackpool with him. Ripley's financial situation continues to deteriorate and he has few options so he decides to make one big bet. He soon realizes however that Natalie may be hiding something from him.

Ripley Holden's dreams are crashing all around him. It's apparent that he is going to lose the arcade when he learns that Natalie put the flats in a trust for the children and no one now has access to them. He takes drastic action. He agrees to give Shyanne away at her wedding but realizes that Natalie has been having an affair with DI Carlisle and she admits to being in love with him. That information comes in handy when Carlisle come to the wedding reception to arrest him for Poole's murder. Danny reveals a few secrets of his own, one to his father and the other to Shyanne. One of the working girls who use to work in Ripley's flats reveals the truth about what happened the night Poole was killed.