Crossing The Line is an episode of series 25 which first aired 15 December 2008. The episode had 5.9 million viewers with a 25.3% share.[1]
Plot synopsis[]
The team are called to the small mining village of Garsden in East Lanarkshire where two skeletons have been found at an excavation site, their hands entwined and wearing wedding rings. The victims were reported missing during the 1980's after running up debts during the miners' strike - but none of the locals appears to remember much about them to help the police. As the team delve further, they uncover the brutal truth.
Plot synopsis[]
When excavations of an old mine near the ex-mining community of Garsden uncover two skeletons, the team are called in to investigate.
The skeletons are identified as two adults. The bodies are entwined and they are wearing wedding rings – were they a couple? How did they end up buried in a mine? Were they buried alive?
As Burke and the others start to investigate the mine, land-owner William Wheelan arrives and tells them of his plan to turn the area into a new mining museum to attract tourist to revitalize the dying economy of Garsden. Reid knows all too well about the area – she reveals to the others that this was where she grew up. When they ask her more about it, she is visibly discomforted by the memories.
When Burke and Ross don miners gear and go into the unstable shaft they discover more than just the bodies – a whole selection of furniture and household goods. Could it be that they were living in the mine?
Looking through the local records, the Buckleys were a couple from Garsden who disappeared without a trace around the bodies’ estimated time of death. Burke and Reid go to a local bar to find Davy Hogan, who was the investigating officer at the time, only to find him a bitter drunk and dismissive of the case. As far as he is concerned, the couple ran away to escape their debts. What he does remember though, is that the Buckleys had a baby.
The team divides into two to interview the Buckleys’ neighbours. Ross and Fraser talk to Chas Hadden, who denies knowing the Buckleys well and anything about there being a baby. Meanwhile, Burke and Reid meet the Davidsons, who say the same. Theresa, the mother, swears she recognises Reid but the DCI cagily denies this.
Frustrated at the lack of information from the locals, Burke and the others turn their attention back to Hogan to find out more about the situation at the time. Hogan tells them of the miners’ strike and of families at war with one another, and the brutality on the streets between police, striking miners and the ‘scabs’ that went back to work.
Further investigating reveals that Theresa’s husband, Kenny, was in a gang with Chas Hadden and a local ex-miner called Donnie Hood, who used to intimidate miners during the strike to stop them returning to work.
When Hadden goes missing, the team is drawn into the endgame of a local war fueled by long-buried resentments. As the members of the two families face their own troubled pasts, Reid also finds that she must face hers.
Filming Locations[]
The town of Garsden is fictional and filmed in Coalburn, South Lanarkshire.
Cast[]
Matt Burke - Alex Norton
Jackie Reid - Blythe Duff
Robbie Ross - John Michie
Stuart Fraser - Colin McCreadie
Ellis Sinclair - Katrina Bryan