#arun ghir

[forensicated]

Smiffina Episodes: Over The Limit

Ben hurries round to the scene of the crash that happened in Demolition Girl and is horrified to see Sally's car involved. The suspected other driver is on the ground and unconscious, bleeding from a head wound after staggering out of the car. He checks her over before hurrying to Sally. He asks Sally what he thought she was doing, she explains she was scared and tried to get away. Ben gets her coat and bag out and leads her away from the car. Sally spots the unconscious woman and runs over to her, asking if she's going to be alright. Ben tells the paramedic he doesn't know what happened, he just found the scene after he left the club. He pulls Sally's hood up, tells the paramedics that she's called Julia Jacobs needs to go to the hospital as she's in shock. He then rings Callum and tells him that Sally's had a crash, admitting he's given a false name. Callum tells him to get her in the ambulance fast before their colleagues arrive and that he'll deal with her at the hospital. She begs Ben to come with her and he reassures her he'll see her soon and walks off, posting Sally's car keys down a nearby drain.

A paramedic tells Tony he suspects the unconscious person of having taken drugs and that the second driver is in shock but fine. Millie calls the registrations in and finds one is Sally's car and that the club she and Ben went to is just around the corner. Ben tells Sally not to answer the phone to Tony when he calls and to wait for Callum.

Sally tells Callum that she'd had a drink and tried to drive. Callum tells her how stupid she is for putting herself and others at risk and that he doesn't yet know if the other woman is going to be alright. He tells her she's kissed her job goodbye. Ben asks who benefits if Sally loses her job because they'd 'lose a good copper'. (I'm seeing less good copper and more fucking idiot only interested in big acts of bravery, who has to be the only one righteously fighting for her victim against everyone, who can't be told no and to back off, who can't be objective or reasonable and who gets too entwined in other people's lives to be a 'good copper' personally but there you go.) Callum asks if Ben is so sober (he doesn't drink) why did he let her drive? He admits he wasn't with her and he asks why not. Ben looks awkward but Sally interrupts and asks 'What am I going to do?'

At the station Smithy and Gina discuss Sally's car being involved in the crash. Smithy points out Sally likes a drink and it's not the first time she's gotten herself into scrapes. (Not the first time she's drunk driven either - see Shadow Stalker where she goes undercover as a barmaid, has three strong drinks as part of her role and then drives to pursue a suspect. Callum's possé of moral vigilantes got old quick - and he's still paying for it now with this bollocks.) "Yeah, it happens to the best of us." Gina points out. Sally's mobile keeps going to voicemail so Gina sends someone round to the house under the assumption she's had too much to drink at the start of a couple of days off, left her car and gone home and someone has stolen it.

The other driver has a ruptured spleen and is in theatre. Tony asks to speak to Julia Jacobs and finds she's left the hospital. Tony and Millie hear that 'Julia' is blonde and slim in a green anorak and left with a tall, slim, attractive black guy in his 20's. "Ring any bells?" "The size of Notre Dame." "I guess it could be anyone, hey..." Millie sighs. "Yeah, and I'm Quasimodo." The mother of the injured girl tells them her daughter can't have been driving as she's only 15 and is 'a good girl'.

Callum tells Sally to cancel her cards and remove them and cash from her purse as he's going to dump her bag containing phone, ID and purse to make it look like it was stolen. Sally tries to refuse and wants to tell the truth but he tells her it's non debatable now he's involved in the cover up and sends her and Ben to his with a warning not to touch anything, or answer the door or phone and to lay low.

Smithy still can't get in touch with Sally or Ben so leaves Ben a voicemail asking him to ring him. He asks Stevie if she went out with them last night but she tells him no because Sally was in a weird mood so she swerved it and left Ben to deal as he's the only one who can deal with Sally when she's like that. Stevie suggests they've probably gone AWOL together because they fancy each other.

Callum tells Smithy that he's late because there's a road closure after an RTC and he got stuck in traffic. Smithy tells him the RTC involved Sally's car. Callum asks Will to meet him in the yard later. Gina updates uniform and admits they don't know if Sally was the driver. Smithy tells them the woman driving Sally's car called herself Julia Jacobs and left the hospital before anyone got a look at her. "Except for her being blonde, slim, wearing a green anorak covered in blood with a black guy in toe." "Stick to the facts, please..." There's no CCTV yet and three Julia Jacobs' are listed in Sun Hill. Neither car was hotwired and the crash happened near a bend so one could have been going too fast and the other taking it wide to miss a park car. To add to the confusion, Miranda Roscoe, the suspected other driver is not the registered keeper, is only 15 and collapsed at the side of the car so may not have been in the driving seat after all. Callum muddies the waters by suggesting knocking on Ben's door if they're trying to find Sally to eliminate her from their enquiries. At Callum's, Sally wants to ring the hospital instead but Ben manages to stop her.

"I can't believe Sally would be so stupid." Will sighs. There's no CCTV at the hospital to identify Sally having been there. Callum asks Will to keep an ear out at the station whilst he's out and about trying to find out who was behind the wheel of the other car and stopping them from identifying Sally. "I thought we [the little possé of Callum, Will, Sally and Ben who bent rules to make sure those who couldn't be prosecuted legally got their comeuppances another way. But like Gabriel did but less serial-snipery] were laying low after what happened to Emma?" Callum tells him that Sally is a gutsy copper who doesn't deserve to lose her job for a mistake. A mistake that keeps happening! [This possé nonsense is such a waste of Ben!]

Sally lets herself into Callum's bedroom after a shower and takes one of his shirts to wear instead of her blooded clothes. She spots a picture of Callum and a brunette and wonders who she is and Ben respectfully tells her they shouldn't be in there and hurries her out.

At the home of the registered driver, Callum finds she doesn't live there anymore after leaving the year before and that they say they don't know anyone by Miranda Roscoe's name. The father takes Callum out to see the car but it's not where he says he left it the night before. Gina's having the car checked for fingerprints so they'll have more information soon. Smithy's tracked one of the Julia Jacobs down - she's 83 "So I'm guessing her joyriding days are behind her don't you?" "Never say never." Gina doesn't think think that Sally and Ben not answering their phones is suspicious just yet...

They've tracked down another Julia Jacobs in the time it takes Callum to return. "Two of them are older than I am!" She looks at Smithy. "... Yeah alright!" she says at his cheeky reaction.

Callum suggests it might be an alias or someone just passing through. Millie suggests checking the CCTV of the club to work out when Sally left in relation to the RTC. Callum says he'll do it but Smithy tells him Roger already is. Callum is sent with Millie to interview Miranda Roscoe at St Hughes.

There's a nice bit of continuity for longer term viewers (Episode 139 Smithy cheated during a drinking competition the night before and bought Gina doubles to his singles causing her to unknowingly drink drive the next morning. She ended up having a little prang after she's cut up by a white van driver. Gary and Cameron are called to the scene and Gary has to breathalyse her and then arrest her when she's over the limit.) Smithy asks Gina if she remembers the crash 'that I covered for you?' He asks if she suspects Sally and Ben are doing something similar and she insists she doesn't.

Miranda tells her mum that she lies and was at a concert rather than a sleepover. Callum asks her if she knows anyone by the surname Richardson and she looks at her mother. Millie asks if she'd taken drugs and her mother says instantly no. Miranda admits she'd been drinking and had taken coke and that's why she can't remember what happened. She got the drugs from 'a guy at the gig' and she doesn't know why she was in the car because she was walking home.

The club CCTV cuts between areas so doesn't give a continual view but it does show Sally leaving, without her coat and kissing a man (the courier from Demolition Girl). She pulls away, drops her handbag and won't let the guy help her. She heads towards the carpark and the CCTV flits back to inside the club. When it returns to show outside Sally is nowhere to be seen. Gina tells the relief to track down CCTV from the areas surrounding the carpark to try and find Sally leaving on foot. Callum returns and tells them that Miranda doesn't remember anything from the night before and had taken drugs. He spots the CCTV showing Sally kissing a man playing on the screen.

The CCTV proves that she went to the carpark but not that she drove the car. Callum suggests she's bang to rights to read the reactions of the others. Smithy suggests the club could be full of opportunist thieves. Stevie suggest that the guy she knocked back or anyone else who saw her could have taken the keys when she dropped her handbag and pressed the fob to work out which is her car. To be sure they need to find Sally and Ben. Callum suggests running a picture of the man that Sally was kissing through facial ID or asking at the club if anyone knows him and offers to do it - Smithy says he'll do it. Rachel tells him that there was a lot of cocaine found in the other cars glovebox. Definitely more than Miranda suggested and it doesn't fit with her 'getting it off a bloke at the gig.

New Sgt Rachel Weston is surprised at Callum for being hard on Sally. She asks 'what that's all about?' Smithy says he doesn't know but he hopes he's wrong.

Callum who has been so careful about hiding Sally then has a loud argument on the phone in the corridor outside IBO where he SHOUTS at Sally to ask why she didn't mention her kiss that is caught on CCTV RIGHT AFTER he'd been talking to the group in the picture above about said CCTV. How did no one hear him given the voices heard nearby? Sally looks through her pockets and finds the mans name and number and gives it to Callum. At the same time Smithy and Arun get his name from the manager who recognises him as a regular. Callum spots wedding pictures and uses them to keep Damian quiet after he admits seeing Sally getting into her car, if he tells his colleagues that he didn't see Sally drink driving, he won't tell his wife that he cheated on her. He agrees to play ball. He later tells Arun and Smithy that she walked off towards the carpark and met the "6ft black guy" she was with earlier and he drove them home.

Stevie asks Will if he thinks Sally did it. He says no and asks if she does. She doesn't think anyone would be that stupid. The eldest Tomlinson son lies that his father isn't in, but before they leave the man collapses. They run in to help and calli for an ambulance. Joey said he wasn't in because the police being around is stressing his dad out and he has angina. Before they can talk to him in the hospital, Joey begs them not to and says it was him driving the car. Will updates Callum who tells him to sit in on the interview as he knows what the priority is. Joey says his friends taught him to drive and they'd been using his dad's car for ages because his dad sleeps like a log. He admits he didn't see who was driving the other car and that he goes looking for girls because the car makes him look older and like he has cash. He picked Miranda up as she was walking home and she was pretty out of it after she'd been at a gig. He doesn't know what happened after as he lost control of the car, panicked and ran home and smashed the back window so it looked like a burglary.

Sally and Ben sit at Callum's waiting it out. Ben admits Julia Jacobs is the name of his first real girlfriend who dumped him to move to France. "Oh do me a favour!" Callum sighs as he walks in to find them cuddling. "I'm out there spinning plates whilst you two are getting cosy!" "She just needed a hug, Sarge." Callum isn't impressed to find Sally wearing his shirt and he starts to clear up after them (seriously for two people he's helping out they - Sally in particular for entering his bedroom and going through his stuff) have been pretty rude leaving mess around! He tells them Sally wasn't seen by the other driver and he's squared everything else so they're to go to the station and make out that they'd copped off with each other after Ben played the big knight in shining armour outside the club and that they've just got the messages of people trying to get in touch on Ben's phone and have come in to find out what's going on. Sally doesn't think that she can lie and he tells her to blag it as it's not too big a price to pay for drink driving after all(!!). Ben tells her gently that he'll come with her and all she has to do is say she was with him. "I wish I was." she sighs, walking towards the front door. "So do I." Ben sighs quietly.

Will tells Gina that he thinks Joey was telling the truth as he knew Miranda's name and where she'd been that night but said he didn't know anything about the drugs. Stevie suggests he was really keen to keep them away from his dad so she's not quite so sure. Callum asks if Joey thinks the accident was his fault and Will says yes and that he didn't see the other driver. Rachel arrives with Sally's bag in an evidence bag saying it was found near to St Hugh's. It has her phone and purse but no cash, cards or car keys. All eyes are on Ben and Sally as they enter the briefing room.

Gina takes them into her office with Smithy. Sally tells them she slept at Ben's house and that she knows nothing about the car being stolen or any car crash. She says she lost her phone and bag so she didn't get any messages they've left for her but she has cancelled her cards. Smithy points out how easy it is to find a car with a car fob but she insists she didn't think as she'd had a bit to drink. Gina tells her they found her bag a short distance from the hospital and that a woman called Julia Jacob's is suspected of taking it but she did a runner before she could be questioned. Smithy and Gina clearly seem to be a little suspicious but can't question it because Sally had an answer that was logical for every part!

Sally wants to come clean when she realises that the other driver was a 14 year old. Callum takes her into his office and points out that if she coughs she loses her job and gets a conviction and then so do he, Will and Ben for covering up for her and perverting the course of justice. "It's not just about you anymore!" He points out he's lied to more people than he cares to think about for her "People I like, people I respect!" "I'm not soft enough to think you actually care that much about 'Uncle Stoney' but you think about Will, Ben. You've enough on your plate. Don't add to it." He tells her to keep her apologies and to prove he hasn't risked his career for a waste of space and that she owes him that.

Stevie finds that Joey has likely lied to them because there's blood and fibres from Miranda's head and clothes that have been found to show she was sat in the back. Why would she be sat in the back? Especially as her handbag was found in the front and Joey implied that was where she was too. Will suspects that Roy might be working as a cabby and Stevie asks him to check if he has a license. They reinterview Joey and he realises they've caught him in a lie and that they know he is covering for someone. He insists he doesn't know what they're on about and clams up.

Will finds Callum and tells him Joey's story has fallen apart and that Roy's injuries are consistent with a crash. Sally says she might have caught a glimpse of him and Callum insists if she did it's likely he saw her. Stevie appears and tells them that Roy has handed himself in after he heard Joey was in custody and that if he was picking up people as a taxi then he did it illegally. Smithy is going in to interview him and Callum asks if he can come too in Stevie's place.

Roy admits Joey is lying and covering for him. He says he was the driver and that he had Miranda in the car because he was illegally mini-cabbing. The drugs were Miranda's. She was bragging about it as she'd been the one in charge of getting them. When she fell asleep he took them and put them in the glovebox. He told Joey what happened and Joey lied to protect him. He'd been doing it because his wife had left and cut all of them off including the kids and money is tight and doesn't go far enough. Callum asks if he saw the other driver and he remembers she was a blonde woman but insists it was his fault not hers. He was tired and fell asleep behind the wheel. He's angry with himself for leaving the girl laying there. Callum asks if he'd recognise the other driver again with Smithy side eyeing him. He says no and that he wouldn't even want to as it's his fault not hers.

Stevie tells Smithy that Miranda admitted the coke is hers, she sampled some and ended up getting lost. "I'd say that was job done." Smithy says, putting money into the vending machine. "Well, we still need to find Julia Jacobs." "We're hardly going to find her..." he says to Callum ominously. "She's one lucky girl." Sally asks Smithy what happened in the interview and he tells her that Tomlinson took full responsibility. He then tells her to 'get out of here before anyone else starts pointing anymore fingers'.

Bits of this are written weirdly. It's not clear 100% whether Smithy or Gina do definitely suspect Sally is guilty or not. There's little clues to say they do and then Smithy tells Sally that last bit in a tone of voice like he isn't but the words sound like he is! I don't think the director knew what he wanted to impart which is weird cos Reza is usually one of the better directors! (He was the director for the last 2 eps)

Uniform tease Ben as he waits outside for Sally, asking him what happened. He says he took Sally home but put her to bed and slept on the sofa. "You're no fun!" Millie tuts playfully. "The youth of today, far too well behaved!" Tony smirks. Sally tells Ben she'll do whatever it takes to never be in that situation again. Ben gently tells her not to do it to him again and she says she could say the same to him "I'm not worth the effort." She pauses. "...We friends?" "I wouldn't go that far. Come on, Trouble!" Ben smiles, leading her out the station.

[forensicated]

Neon - it's True Love ;)