Pie in The Sky (TV Series) - Plot

Plot

Detective Inspector Henry Crabbe is a long-serving police officer in the fictional county of Westershire. Although very much his own man and an independent thinker, he is not a maverick, nor has he any particular neuroses; indeed, Crabbe is a highly intelligent, gentle and thoughtful man of high moral principle. On the other hand he does have one passion in life - food. He dreams of retiring from the police to run his own restaurant serving good English fare. However, as the most outstanding detective in his department, his superiors – in particular Assistant Chief Constable Freddie Fisher – are reluctant to allow him to leave.

The first episode (The Best of Both Worlds) opens with Crabbe, after 25 years in the force, just seven weeks away from retirement when he finds himself close to catching high-profile fraudster Dudley Hooperman (played by Michael Kitchen), whom, he has been trailing for years. While making his escape (with £3–4 million worth of stolen treasury bills) Hooperman shoots Crabbe in the leg, which, although, a relatively minor injury, consolidates Crabbe's desire to retire on his police pension and open his own restaurant in the fictional town of Middleton – Pie in the Sky, technically owned by his wife Margaret, although Henry is the main chef. (Much to Henry's disgust, Margaret has no feeling whatever for food, seeing it as nothing more than fuel, and has a partiality for bars of chocolate and – horror of horrors, in Henry's eyes – prawn cocktail flavour crisps). However, during his "final" case, an investigation into police corruption, he is tricked into appearing to take a bribe. Although Crabbe himself is entirely innocent, the circumstances enable his superior, A.C.C. Fisher, effectively to blackmail Crabbe into continuing to take on occasional cases as required, threatening to re-open the inquiry if Crabbe disagrees. Thus Crabbe has, in Fisher's own words, the best of both worlds – still investigating the cases that Fisher puts his way while at the same time cooking back at Pie in the Sky.

Between his first love – cooking – and being constantly called back on duty by Fisher, Henry finds that he's not going to fulfil his dream in peace.

Prowlers, sudden deaths, retrieving rebellious daughters, missing lovers, psychics and fear of the restaurant critic are all elements Henry has to deal with as well as creating his signature steak and kidney pie – containing anchovies and said to be addictive.