To maximise the ability of the cast and their prior experience during the soap era, multi-part plots used by Marquess were retained to ease the transition into the changes that would follow in the coming years.

This meant there were long-running plots established including the disappearance of schoolgirl Amy Tennant, DC Zain Nadir going undercover as a bent officer inside a drugs ring and Sergeant June Ackland's romance with a school headmaster, all of which did not conclude until the following year.

Young did state at the start of his tenure that he had no intention to axe any of the staple characters, such as veterans of over 20 years Tony Stamp and Reg Hollis, however, it had already been announced in the autumn of 2005 that Trudie Goodwin would be quitting her role on the series as Sergeant June Ackland at the end of her contract.

Nixon and Noble investigate when a young woman is thrown from a walkway on the Cole Lane Estate, which subsequently leads her husband to try and take his own life.

Nixon and Meadows investigate when the body of Reshna Dewan is hauled from the Thames, and new evidence suggests that her extra-marital affairs may have had a part to play in her death.

Meanwhile, Noble and Webb question the eccentric victim of an alleged mugging, who claims to be an undercover police officer, but Scotland Yard refuse to confirm or deny whether or not she is telling the truth.