Episode 1

DS Ellie Miller is upset when Superintendent Jenkinson hires Alec Hardy to the DI position Miller wanted. Hardy's first case is a cut barbed-wire fence and stolen fuel. Eleven-year-old boy Danny Latimer goes missing, and his body is found at the base of cliffs overlooking the local beach. Beth Latimer sees her son's body on the beach and breaks down. SOCO says the crime scene was altered to look like an accident, and the pathologist says Danny was strangled. Hardy and Ellie disclose the cause of Danny's death to the Latimers, and Mark Latimer identifies his son's body. Ellie's nephew and ambitious reporter Olly Stevens extracts information from Ellie for a Twitter report, causing tension with the police and upsetting the Latimers. Ellie takes the blame for Olly's action. Jenkinson asks Hardy if he wishes to withdraw from the case, but he does not. Karen White, reporter for national newspaper The Daily Herald, arrives in town without her supervisor's permission to try to get an exclusive on the death. Beth visits the crime scene with Ellie, and Ellie expresses her grief to her husband, Joe Miller. Ellie and Joe tell their son, Tom, about Danny's death. Tom secretly wipes his mobile phone and computer to remove evidence. Olly unwittingly provides Karen with a link to Chloe Latimer, and CCTV footage shows Danny skateboarding down the High Street on the night of his murder. Ellie notes that Danny's smartphone and skateboard were not recovered at the crime scene, and are missing. At a press conference at the local school, Hardy asks the public for its help in solving the crime, and pledges to find Danny's killer.