The Soap formerly known as The Bill RIP aka Max Carter Show spoiler 27th July 2010y)

Featuring Nicola Stapleton as Louise Gates*

D.S. Max Carter (Christopher Fox) returns to work having requested some time off following his run in with D.C. Terry Perkins (Bruce Byron) over his cocaine habit. D.S. Max Carter appears calm and is keen to tackle his first case, a murder. The badly beaten body of Liam Powell has been discovered on a footpath, the team rule out a mugging as he still has all of his belongings on him. D.S. Max Carter orders P.C. Kristy Knight (Sarah Manners) to leave the cordon and speak to staff at a nearby pub to see if anyone witnessed anything. Pub landlord Nick Willis (Lee Whitlock) and his girlfriend Louisa Gates (Nicola Stapleton) inform her that Liam Powell was a regular and had been drinking in there the night before. Frustratingly they claim the CCTV in the pub doesn’t work and they have no images from the previous evening.


D.S. Max Carter puts D.C. Grace Dasari (Amita Dhiri) on edge when he spreads rumours amongst the team about her relationship with D.I. Neil Manson (Andrew Lancel)


D.C Terry Perkins, D.S. Max Carter and P.C. Kirsty Knight go to Liam Powell’s home where they discover his two young children Archie (Otto Farrant) and Rose (Ruby Love) living in squalor, they are both filthy and starving. After further investigation the team discover that Liam’s wife died a year ago and he has been struggling to care for them, spending a lot of time drinking all night in his local pub.


Liam Powell’s sister Sarah Truman (Therese Bradley) arrives at the police station and tells the officers that she has become increasingly worried about the children’s welfare due to Liam’s drinking. She reveals that Otto had called her from neighbour Dave Walton’s (Paul Copley) home. Dave had looked after the children in the past when Liam had left them alone but had stopped recently as Liam had accused him of being inappropriate with the children.


The team discover CCTV from the footpath which shows Liam arguing with Louisa Gates outside the pub. When confronted, Louisa claims she had argued with Liam because he had been helping himself to drinks but she insists that after their row he simply walked away and as far as she was aware he was fine.


The case takes a dramatic turn when a voicemail on Liam’s phone from Louisa reveals that they had been having an affair and she is heard pleading with Liam not to tell Nick. Louisa is taken to the station for questioning where she admits that she has been sleeping with Liam and that they were arguing because he had been blackmailing her. However she maintains that after the argument Liam had simply walked away.


D.S. Max Carter’s erratic behaviour around the case leads D.C. Terry Perkins to confront him again about his drug habit.


There is a breakthrough in the case when the team discover the CCTV in the pub was actually working. Who is really behind Liam Powell’s murder?