Virgil Tibbs returns to Sparta and joins the police force as chief of detectives.His arrival is met with resistance from police chief Bill Gillespie ...
The investigation into the brutal murders of a young girl and the suspect in her death, leads Tibbs and Gillespie to the son of one of Sparta's wealth...
The affair between the husband of a wealthy woman and her distant cousin leads to her murder. Virgil immediately suspects the pair.But he has a diffic...
Racial tensions run high when a married white woman has an affair with a black businessman from New York.Meanwhile Virgil is not happy when the Chief ...
Virgil refuses to let go of a grudge against a wealthy former classmate who cheated him out of a scholarship.The man has promised city leaders that he...
An angry Gillespie seeks answers when an old friend is shot.And Virgil narrowly escapes death after trying to ascertain the real reason behind an old ...
In this humorous episode Virgil and the Chief arrest a man for bigamy.It soon becomes a polygamy case after an endless parade of wives come to visit t...
The Sparta police search for a killer and his girlfriend.But the case becomes personal when they take Althea and the grandson of one of the victims ho...
A copycat recreates a shocking unsolved murder from the past.Gillespie feels threatened after Ted Marcus suggests that Virgil should become the Chief....
Tibbs,Gillespie and Bubba pursue different leads in a bizarre murder case and the Chief realizes that the killer has plans for him.
The murder of well respected man turns up a shocking secret about his family.
Virgil is delighted when Matthew his former partner from Philidelphia comes to visit.But he soon learns his friend has another purpose for coming to S...
Sweet risks his life to prove that the Sheriff of a neighboring county is guilty of the racially motivated murder of a young man that Sweet was friend...
Bubba is seduced by an alluring writer who has more on her mind than romance.Bill and Virgil worry that he is in over his head.Bubba tries to protect ...
Virgil is forced to shoot a suspect in an armed robbery.He has trouble dealing with the consequences of his actions, after he realizes the person he s...
Virgil's visiting niece and Bubba's nephew team up in an effort to escape the boredom of small town life.But they get more excitement than they bargai...
Gillespie suspects that JoAnn's new cook is connected to the murder of a young prostitute.But Virgil suspects the culprit maybe a local pimp who has b...
A minister who was integrating his church(by inviting Virgil and Althea to attend services)is poisoned.
In this thought provoking episode.Gillespie is surprised when a man he arrested asks to see him on the eve of his execution.He must confront his feeli...
The past comes back to haunt JoAnn in the form of an escaped convict.
The police search for a burglar who preys on elderly women.And the prime suspect is the son of a city councilwoman.
The investigation of a possible assault brings back nightmarish and confusing childhood memories for Virgil.
A vivacious socialites return to Sparta delights her ailing father and childhood friend Virgil, but her sister is less than thrilled at her homecoming...
Bubba tries to rescue a woman from a rapist, but she mistakes him for her attacker.Gillespie tangles with an ambitious district attorney who plans to ...
Sparta grieves after a drunk driver causes a fatal crash with high school cheerleaders on their way home from a game.While the officers try to find ot...
With the Chief in Quantico Bubba and Virgil try to catch a serial arsonist.Things get complicated after a man dies in one of the fires.And Councilwoma...
It seems that a serial killer has been burying his victims in a wooded area owned by a wealthy hermit that Virgil refers to as ""Sparta's Howard Hugh...
After being released by his captors, the chief discovers that his abduction is part of a plot to assassinate a visiting civil rights leader.
Virgil struggles to help Althea after she is raped by a fellow teacher.Darnell does not think they can get a conviction because the man's wife has giv...
A beauty contest is marred by blackmail and the ambitious mother of a contestant.
An unhappy wife asks her lover to place a bomb in her abusive husband's truck.
Someone is selling crack to teenagers and Sweet tries desperately to save a young addict.
After a private investigator searching for a missing child is found dead, the evidence points to a local dance teacher - a neighbor that Parker has be...
An outlaw family seeks revenge against Bubba after he is forced to shoot one of them during a holdup.The chief wants him to stay out of sight until th...
A young refugee claims to be the son of a Sparta cop who died in the war.But quickly becomes a suspect in a murder/robbery after he accepts a ride wit...
The F.B.I. tries to talk an ex-boxer into testifying against a mobster he once worked for, but the fighter sees the situation as an opportunity for bl...
A long time friend of the Chief makes threats against a doctor he believes is responsible for his wife's death .When the doctor is killed he becomes t...
A man murders his wife and her lover after he catches them together,then flees to a remote cabin with his daughter who does not know what he has done....
Bubba refuses to believe that a former teamate embezzled funds from the bank where he worked.And sets out to prove that his friend was framed and murd...
Darnell plans on indicting a teenager for murder after her father is found in the basement and her mother turns up missing.But Gillespie and his men d...
Maybelle the madam returns to Sparta with her "" nieces "".And sets up shop just out of Gillespie's jurisdiction.Her return is not without controversy...
First the mother,then the father of two young children are murdered.Althea takes responsibility for the children. The killings appear to be related to...
Althea does not realize that an old friend from Philly is hiding a dark secret, nor does Sweet who has fallen in love with the woman.
Racial tensions run high when a white cabbie is murdered in the bottoms.
Harriet's sister is murdered on the orders of the wealthy white man who fathered her child.
Harriet's efforts to bring V.J. Trundel to trial are fruitless.The Chief does not believe they will ever get enough evidence to get an indictment,so h...
Virgil goes to Philadelphia to investigate a friends death.And Bubba (reluctantly) fills in as Althea's Lamaze coach.
Virgil is framed for murder and Gillespie travels to Philly to help him clear his name.
Gillespie sends Parker to confirm suspicions that a local truck stop is really a front for a prostitution business.When a young prostitute is found de...
A mild mannered school teacher is accused of child molestation.
Gillespie and his officers are outraged when a drug courier who ran down the son of Virgil's next door neighbor makes a deal with the F.B.I. to avoid ...
Bubba is reunited with his high school sweetheart, but his happiness is short lived after she resorts to murder to silence an attorney who was threate...
The investigation into the death of an abandoned infant leads to a mentally handicapped teenager.
A lawyer has personal reasons for trying to gain early release for a man who was sent to prison after an accident he caused while drinking and driving...
Harriet and Eugene are devastated after Gene's father is arrested for murder.
Sweet is heartbroken when an elderly woman who befriended him is murdered in her bookstore.
Virgil's dream of a better relationship with his Aunt Ruda and her son is shattered when his cousin takes part in a string of burglaries that result i...
Gillespie receives word that a former Spartan is wanted for the murder of a socialite in Houston.But a ruthless bounty hunter, sent by the victim's je...
In this Christmas episode the officers share memories with a reporter from the Sparta Herald.
A bottle of spiked moonshine leads to an accident that claims the life of one teen and blinds another.
A psychiatrist tells Gillespie that one of her patients has confessed to a crime that another man is about to be executed for, but she refuses to divu...
A story of two brothers one an honor student that Althea has great plans for, the other a dangerous drug dealer as they struggle to influence a younge...
Virgil soon regrets telling an old friend that his new business partners are being investigated by the police.
Bubba travels to Los Angeles to arrest an arsonist.When the man is murdered to keep him from talking Bubba teams up with a pretty insurance investigat...
Harriet tries to keep Eugene from giving up when his father faces the death penalty.And the police search for three suspects in connection to a robber...
Althea thinks Virgil needs a new line of work after seeing the aftermath of a deadly shooting at a roadhouse.Virgil finds himself in danger when they ...
Gillespie's old flame returns to Sparta to settle some business matters and see Bill. When she is murdered he travels to Gulfport and meets his daught...
After Bubba's cousin adopts a baby her husband is blackmailed by the child's real parents - they want him to help them steal the payroll where he work...
Virgil's Aunt Ruda is the only witness to a struggle between Bubba and a young robbery suspect that ends in the young mans death.But her prejudice aga...
Bubba returns to Los Angeles to testify at a murder trial and is reunited with Pat Day as they try to protect Mike from killers sent to prevent him fr...
A man murders his business partner and frames the man's illegitimate daughter for the crime in an attempt to gain the man's business and his wife.
The lyrics to a blues song recall a murder that happened 50 years earlier.The victim - Sweet's grandfather.And the only people left with the answers a...
A deputy provides protection for a cotton grower who is running a pot growing operation.But the deputy makes a big mistake when he wounds Bubba's girl...
The father of a man Gerard prosecuted kidnaps the DA's daughter.
Lonnie makes a heartbreaking discovery about a woman he dated in high school.
Parkers investigation into a purse snatching reveals an abused woman.
Althea fears for one of her students after her mother's boyfriend is linked to a criminal operation that has resulted in the deaths of several trucker...
A restaurateur and her mechanic boyfriend plot to eliminate her husband, but their scheme backfires.Gillespie takes heat over a string of mailbox bash...
V.J. Trundel's widow takes Harriet to court to gain custody of Eric.But Harriet is determined that her nephew will not be raised in the home of the ma...
Gillespie learns that the son of an old friend is a compulsive gambler.The young man wants his father to pay off his losses.But when two gangsters sho...
An ex-convict attempts to retrieve his loot from his wife and her new husband in this tongue-in-cheek episode.
A political prisoner who entered the country illegally,seeks sanctuary in a monastary.Gillespie and Tibbs find themselves at odds with Sheriff McComb ...
Gillespie,Tibbs and Father DiMarco must stand trial for harbouring a fugitive and obstructing justice.
Big city crack dealers invade Sparta.Eugene witnesses the drive by shooting of a friend and his offer to help the police identify the shooters leaves ...
The police wage war against the big city drug dealers who have moved into Sparta.Eugene identifies the men who murdered his friend.And Bubba is teamed...
Althea places herself in harms way trying to help one of her students, a disturbed and violent young man; after he is implicated in a murder case.
Althea has trouble dealing with the violent death of a student.Young Megan Fowler quickly finds herself yet another dangerous boyfriend and they are s...
Lana Gillespie comes to Sparta to claim her inheritance,but is stalked by a mobster who dated her mother.Meanwhile Harriet encourages Bill to talk to ...
A secretary takes drastic measures to protect herself from sexual harassment.
Virgil fears for his Aunt Ruda's safety after several killings occur in the hospital where she is being treated.
Singer Eddie Larran returns to Sparta for a concert,but not everyone is a fan.An angry man insists that Eddie owes him money.And their dispute soon en...
One of Virgil's classmates from law school is arrested following the death of his former girlfriend, but the man insists that her death was the result...
A judge schemes to get rid of his wife after she tries to blackmail him into giving her a divorce and a generous settlement by revealing a secret from...
Sweet is the target of false accusations by two corrupt and racist car salesmen.
Parker's stepfather Roy threatens his former employer after an altercation.When the boss is murdered Roy is arrested.
A woman asks Harriet to help her get an eviction order rescinded.The chief gives Parker a new radar gun - and soon comes to regret it.Sheriff McComb r...
A white supremacist politician plans to have his wife's lover murdered and blame it on black radicals.
A white supremacist politician plans to have his wife's lover murdered and blame it on black radicals.
A swindlers homecoming upsets his wife and the families of his victims - especially Etta.
A wealthy man plans to grant a promise made to a black sharecropper many years ago by giving land to the man's descendant.But his greedy son disapprov...
Corrupt developers set their sights on Lana's farm. When she refuses to sell they enlist the services of an arsonist to force her out.
Bill discovers the motivation behind a crime syndicates attempt to muscle in on Sparta and the reason they are determined to get Lana's land.
Eugene hopes a well known minister can save his father from Death Row.But someone runs the Reverend off the road on his way into town and the Sparta p...
Chief Gillespie is fired by the city council and Sparta's new police chief Hampton Forbes arrives in town.Bill's last case with Sparta P.D. is a murde...
Hampton Forbes assumes the office of Chief of Police and Bill becomes the Sheriff of Newman county.Former Spartan Wade Hatton returns to Sparta hoping...
Wade and Sarah try to keep young Henry from being punished for a crime he did not commit and Forbes and his officers search for the two men who are re...
The daughter of an old friend asks Bubba to arrest the man who knowingly gave her AIDS.
Lana's ex- boyfriend comes to see her and brings a load of stolen rifles with him.
Luann moonlights as a singer at a nightclub and finds romance with the clubs owner.Her happiness is shortlived when she realizes that the bartender is...
Attorney Virgil Tibbs returns to Sparta and is soon assigned his first case as a defense attorney.
Bubba travels to Atlanta to help his nephew after the boy overdoses on drugs.He soon teams up with a street wise cop to take down the drug ring.
Tragic story of an alcoholic teen who accidentally kills a little girl while she is drinking and driving.
Virgil defends Parker after he is falsely accused of police brutality by a drug dealer.The prosecution's main witness - the man's girlfriend, who was ...
Maybelle's new phone sex business is a great success - until one her girls decides to moonlight as a prostitute.
Forbes is delighted when his fiancee Angela comes to see him,but is disappointed when he realizes that they have very different plans for the future.
Lonnie must protect his Aunt Cordelia when her cherished friendship with Ches Collins angers one of his cousins.
Virgil accepts a position at a prominent law firm.But as a former police officer he feels conflicting emotions when he realizes that one of their clie...
A Rabbi returns to Sparta after many years.Racists vandalize his synagogue and soon after their Torah is stolen.Forbes investigates but the Rabbi refu...
Eugene tries to protect a friend who was an unwilling accomplice to a robbery and in doing so endangers his probation -- and his life.
Harriet tries to stop an arrogant developer from destroying an important archeological site.
Comedic episode in which Parker's ne'er-do-well stepfather returns to Sparta with a new wife, a stolen painting and two inept art thieves who are dete...
Bill and Harriet's wedding plans are interrupted by a sniper who mistakes Bill for Sheriff McComb.
In the Heat of the Night: Give Me Your Life is a film directed by Russ Mayberry released on May 11, 1994.
Bill and Harriet return home.The cult kidnaps the girl from her foster home.And Forbes and his men arrest a man who has been supplying drugs used to k...
In the Heat of the Night: A Matter of Justice is a film directed by Reza Badiyi released on Oct 21, 1994.
A famous Italian actress returns to Sparta to take care of some unfinished business and rescue her younger sister from a life of drugs and poverty.
Acting Sheriff Gillespie must decide whether he should run for sheriff or retire from law enforcement.It soon becomes apparent that the other candidat...
Ex-cop Tom Harwood's happiness with his new bride is threatened by an old flame who sees an opportunity for blackmail.
