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Gently (Martin Shaw) and Bacchus (Lee Ingleby) are investigating a consignment of stolen passports. The case takes an unexpected turn when a young woman who worked at the passport office is found dead on the seashore. Maggie Alderton (Robyn Addison) was raped and strangled and her mixed-race baby son had been left freezing, near to death, in his Moses basket next to the body.

When Gently and Bacchus speak to Maggie's colleagues and family they learn of Maggie's supposed affair with an unknown Arab man, whom they believed to be the baby's father. Her family were already disappointed that she had a baby out of wedlock, but when they realised the father was an Arab, they disowned her out of disgust. Her colleagues seem to share the same view; and in her last months of her life Maggie was rejected by those closest to her.

Maggie was dating her childhood-sweetheart Jimmy Cochran (Andrew Lee Potts) at the time of the birth of her son. Maggie had always claimed Jimmy was the father of her child – and Gently discovers that the white Geordie lad was heart broken when he assumed Maggie's mixed-race child could not be his. Jimmy is the leader of a local gang and Gently suspects him of being involved in the passport scam.

The investigation takes Gently and Bacchus into the underground world of turf gangs, where Westernised Arab gang members Hamed (Tariq Jordan) and Rand (Jonathan Bonnici) oppose Jimmy's gang for the monopoly on the fake passport business.

Gently In The Blood sees a disintegrating Arab community and a society where racism is fervent on both sides, in a country on the cusp of social change in the Sixties.

Sexual jealousy and racial hatred led to the death of this young woman, whose innocence and tolerance could not save her from the forces that surrounded her.

Behind the scenes on Gently In The Blood:

One stunt had to be re-scheduled due to the bad snowy weather and, by the time production could film it, the tide was out and the actors Andrew Lee Potts (Jimmy Cochran) and Tariq Jordan (Hamed) had to wrestle in the mud and not in the sea.

The exterior of the Shoreline club was a local dinghy sailing club – redressed to look like a Sixties bar and pool hall.

Jimmy's gang (Andrew Lee Potts) are dressed as hard mods – pre-skinheads. Historically, their jeans had one inch turn-ups and were worn one inch above their shoes so that their favoured football team socks could be seen. Writer Peter Flannery is a life-long supporter of Sunderland FC, so the costume department ensured that Jimmy's Gang wore Sunderland's strip football socks – as a special surprise for Peter.

Cast list:

George Gently – Martin Shaw

John Bacchus – Lee Ingleby

PC Taylor – Simon Hubbard

Jimmy Cochran  – Andrew Lee Potts

Maggie Alderton – Robyn Addison

Thomas Ali – Stewart Scudamore

Hamed – Tariq Jordan

Rand – Jonathan Bonnici

Mr Alderton – Steve Hillman

Mrs Alderton – Elizabeth Ryder

Philip Saint – Joe Simpson

Nurse – Brenda Brooks

Mrs Cochran – Catherine Terris

Barber – Alan O'Neill

Bath Attendant – Brendan McCormack

Forensic Officer – Tony Neilson

Keith – Andy Kellegher

PC – Barry John O'Connor

Woman at B&B – Niamh Shaw

Boy with knives – Max Hughes

Boy's Mother – Deidre Monaghan

Paper Boy – Gavin Smith