DCI Banks

10 Best Episodes of DCI Banks - Season 3

A thrilling drama based on the novels by Peter Robinson. Stephen Tompkinson and Andrea Lowe star as the tenacious and stubborn Chief Inspector Alan Banks and the feisty and headstrong Detective Sergeant Annie Cabbot.

Written by Sophie and last updated on nov 24, 2022.

PS: The following content contains spoilers!

PPS: I will admit that parts of this page was written with the help of AI - it makes my work so much easier to not start from a blank page!

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DCI Banks - S3E1

#6 - Wednesday's Child (1) (Season 3 - Episode 1)

11-year old Kyle Heath escapes a couple claiming to be social workers who try to force him into their car but next day his mother Katy tells Banks and Helen that they returned and abducted him and the phone number they gave her is false. Mr and Mrs Harris who live opposite confirm the visit but are critical of Katy's parenting and Kyle's behaviour. When heroin is found in the floor-boards of Katy's house Annie believes Kyle was taken to force Katy to give them to the abductors but Katy denies knowledge of it. She suggests Kyle's father, her estranged partner Paul Cain, is the culprit though evidence suggests that Kyle is the actual drug dealer, earning money to spend at an arcade with headmaster Mark Campbell. Then a young boy's corpse is found - though it is not that of Kyle.

The episode was rated 7.72 from 156 votes.

DCI Banks - S3E2

#5 - Wednesday's Child (2) (Season 3 - Episode 2)

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Campbell admits to kerb crawling but claims to have met Kyle in the arcade by chance and sent him home whilst the dead boy is named as Andre Petri, who died of a heroin overdose and lived near the Heaths. His sister tells Annie that she was amazed how flush he was and it turns out that the arcade was the recruiting ground for under-age drug dealers. Banks suspects the leader is Chivers, a cab driver with previous convictions, who has disappeared with a female accomplice but Helen believes that Katy is not so innocent and is involved with Chivers to get Paul to pay a ransom which he will share with her. Annie shadows Paul as he delivers the money but loses him. Eventually Banks catches up with Chivers and finds that things are not as they first appeared to be.

The episode was rated 7.72 from 111 votes.

DCI Banks - S3E3

#4 - Piece of my Heart (1) (Season 3 - Episode 3)

Matt Barber, whose father Jack is a respected high ranking policeman, and is now a London-based journalist is found murdered in a holiday chalet, owned by Liz Forbes. Liz was the singer with a 1980s band the Crystal Kiss, along with Martin Soames, who is the chalets' caretaker. Matt was seemingly investigating the death of another band member John Gaunt, over thirty years earlier, which, at the time appeared to have been an accident. The remaining band member Ian Basset had returned to England from abroad just before Matt died. He approaches Liz and Martin with the idea of reforming the group - a suggestion made to him by Matt, of whose death he is seemingly unaware. At the same time Martin's lawyer David Hornby is discovered to have been paid by Matt and his finger prints are found at the chalet. He is also the father of Annie's baby.

The episode was rated 7.82 from 136 votes.

DCI Banks - S3E5

#3 - Bad Boy (1) (Season 3 - Episode 5)

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Club DJ Richard Martin is run off the road and subsequently shot in the head, leaving the perpetrators to dispose of his body and his car, as well as the gun used in the shooting. When the gun turns up in the bedroom of Erin Doyle, the daughter of Banks' long-term neighbours, Banks decides to act quietly to remove the gun without fuss. However, DI Morton overrules him, forcing him to follow procedure, organizing a full-blown raid which results in Erin's father, Peter Doyle, being tasered resulting in a heart attack. As Banks, Blackstone and Lang investigate Martin's death, Annie is forced to conduct an official investigation into Helen's actions, an investigation which threatens to destroy Banks' team. As the team identify Jaff Kitson as the possible murderer, Erin reveals that Jaff's new girlfriend is none other than Banks' daughter, Tracy. Banks has to decide between his family loyalties, his moral actions and the hope of a relationship with Annie in order to secure the safety of his daughter. But which will he choose?

The episode was rated 7.82 from 136 votes.

DCI Banks - S3E6

#2 - Bad Boy (2) (Season 3 - Episode 6)

Following the disastrous raid Helen is suspended but she tells Banks that her colleague Trethowan reentered the house after the event, leading them both to surmise, correctly, that he was covering up for his girlfriend, the policewoman who Tasered Peter Doyle and Helen is exonerated. Meanwhile Kitson takes Tracy to Jenkins' house, where he intends to hold her as a hostage in return for the gun. However Jenkins ultimately admits to Banks that he is terminally ill and the reappearance of his long-lost illegitimate son, by whom he wanted to do right before dying, angered Kitson to the point of murder . Tracy is ultimately returned to her father.

The episode was rated 7.88 from 112 votes.

DCI Banks - S3E4

#1 - Piece of my Heart (2) (Season 3 - Episode 4)

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Banks learns that Jack Barber arrested Martin for John Gaunt's manslaughter when he was a constable but Jack denies forcing a confession. However he visits Martin to demand the hand-over of a tape the group buried. With Annie off the case for personal reasons Banks and Helen visit the band, who are planning to reform and hear that Ian Bassett was due to give Matt an interview before he was murdered. Banks finds that both Jack and the band members close ranks when he mentions the tape, especially after Martin kills himself having given the tape to David Hornby, The police discover that the Crystal Kiss's moment has gone and that the killer was desperate to make money for a very dubious reunion, something which also involved Jack Barber. At the same time Banks' private life suffers upheaval when his daughter Tracy turns up unannounced, having dropped out of college.

The episode was rated 8.06 from 109 votes.

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