About this season
The Vice is an ITV police drama about the Metropolitan Police Vice Unit. Spanning five short series from 1999 and 2003, it follows the London Metropolitan police force's vice squad, where prostitution, underage sex, and such organised crime are regular occurrences. Most episodes end where the main villain is caught but often not in a 'naturally' concluded way expected from other TV dramas, and often ending with more unanswered questions than answered. Leader DI Pat Chappel struggles to manage the balance between his private and professional lives — as do the rest of the team. Working in the seedy underworld leads to a continual dilemma — the tension between the Vice Squad and vice-related crimes runs throughout the series and gives the show a rich viewing experience. The line of the team staying on the right side of the law is often blurred, as almost every member at different points submits briefly or permanently to the dubious temptations, sometimes with drastic consequences.
Episodes (8)
1. Home Is the Place (1)
Aired 10 January 2000 • 90 min
When Chappel finds a young girl prostituting in Soho, he attempts to uncover her identity, learning that she absconded from a children's home in Sheffield. Paying a visit, he discovers all is not as it seems, that young girls are being lured away, with the promise of gifts and a life of luxury, in order to work the streets of London.
2. Home Is the Place (2)
Aired 17 January 2000 • 50 min
A huge web of lies and deceit covering up a dangerous child abuse ring is discovered to be limited not only to those now living in the children's home but to past residents as well. Chappel suspects the involvement of one of the staff members, and encounters a terrifying chain of events.
3. Walking on Water (1)
Aired 24 January 2000 • 49 min
Tasked with investigating an illegal gambling and prostitution ring operating out of a pub, Chappel and Hutchins posing as thrillseekers. However, after Chappel nearly blows his cover, he's shocked to discover that the haunt is frequented by former Vice officer Dougie Raymond.
4. Walking on Water (2)
Aired 31 January 2000 • 49 min
Chappel begins to use Raymond's connections as a means of gathering evidence, but when Dougie's level of enthusiasm – and hope that his efforts may win him his job back – backfire, Chappel's reliance is left in tatters.
5. Betrayed (1)
Aired 7 February 2000 • 50 min
When the team raid a brothel operating as a massage parlour, they discover that the young female employees have been smuggled into the country from Eastern European refugee camps. One girl offers to testify against the ringleader, but only if she is given round-the-clock protection.
6. Betrayed (2)
Aired 14 February 2000 • 50 min
Chappel assigns Joe Robinson to the case, unaware that the girl is actually harbouring feelings for Robinson. When his wife Shirley becomes suspicious of his interactions with the girl, Robinson finds his marriage on the rocks and the impending pressures of the job becoming too much. Chappel is forced to find new evidence after the girl reveals that she's pregnant and no longer willing to testify.
7. Lovesick (1)
Aired 21 February 2000 • 49 min
Robinson and Hutchins are on a stakeout, watching a violent pimp suspected of attacking one of his girls. When the pimp confronts him, Robinson, still wound-up from the last case, as well as the impending collapse of his marriage, attacks the john in front of several onlookers. When the pimp is found murdered the next day, the blame is soon directed to Robinson's door, with evidence of his run-in from the day before.
8. Lovesick (2)
Aired 28 February 2000 • 49 min
With Robinson's increasing aggression and temperament, it seems to paint him the prime suspect. However, Chappel believes otherwise and sets out to find the real killer.