Wycliffe - Season 4 (1997)

Famous yachtswoman Paula Tresize goes missing after her boat 'Lone Voyager' is sabotaged and wrecked. A woman's body is found at china clay pits owned by the Davis brothers who were in a land feud with her but Paula's much younger husband Ben identifies it as Paula's doctor, Joanna, who was about to emigrate. Joanna has been shot with Paula's gun and had led her to believe she was mentally ill. Wycliffe, whilst propping up an embittered Kersey, still waiting on Le Page's findings, must establish why.

Morna Petheric runs over and kills Dinah Curran, insisting that Dinah was a ghost come back to haunt her. The pathologist notes that Dinah bore stab wounds from years earlier and Morna believes she killed her when she was a little girl. Dinah was once married to Morna's uncle and her infidelity with Morna's father caused somebody, not necessarily Morna, to take drastic action, as Morna's mother is forced to confess. Superintendant Le Page returns. Her report fully exonerates Doug Kersey but criticizes D.C.C. Stevens for bad management.

Hectoring land-owner Lionel Penmore is shot dead and the chief suspects are his tenants Kevin and Laura Kessell. Penmore has tried bribery and violence to evict the pair and their baby, Flo, from the house where Kevin was born, in order to pay off huge debts following the collapse of a business deal. Wycliffe unmasks the real murderer but Penmore's vengeful family exact their own revenge on the Kessells.

Unpopular Ray Gurney, landlord of the noisy Ship Inn, is murdered. Informant Gary Tregenna points the police towards Sam Venning, who has married Gurney's ex-wife Lisa and resents her giving him money to bail out his pub. Venning admits to visiting Gurney but he did not murder him. Gary, however, is considerably less innocent than he makes out, as Lucy Lane discovers.

Grinning teenage yob Tully literally gets away with murder when a judge must call a mistrial because Wycliffe's man Sergeant Noble failed to follow procedure. An inquiry results in Noble's demotion but when Lucy is ordered by Stevens to reopen an old murder case the experience leads Wycliffe to be extra careful to avoid technical errors, although the outcome leaves a nasty taste. At least Tully gets what's coming to him, allowing Wycliffe to atone for his failure to fully help the victim's family. Circumstances also endorse his decision to stay on as a policeman.