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The Best Episodes of Pie in the Sky

Every episode of Pie in the Sky ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Pie in the Sky!

Binge this in 1d 9h•Peaking at 8.7/10

Pie in the Sky is a British offbeat police comedy drama programme starring Richard Griffiths and Maggie Steed, created by Andrew Payne and first broadcast in five series on BBC1 between 13 March 1994 and

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Pie in the Sky Season 5 Episode 8 - Smelling of Roses
    8.7/10(100 votes)

    S5:E8

    As Henry mysteriously loses his sense of smell he is intrigued when Fisher seems obsessed with arresting tyre exporter Peter Watson and suspects that Fisher, about to divorce his wife, is having an affair with Mrs. Watson. In fact she has discovered that her husband is defrauding her charity and is using Fisher to trap him. Having seen the case through Henry, feeling used by Fisher to catch Watson, resigns from the police and immediately regains his sense of smell. With Gary turning down the offer of work at another kitchen, Henry and his staff and colleagues have every reason to drink to the continuing success of Pie in the Sky.

    Director:Rob Evans
    Writer:Andrew Payne

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  2. Pie in the Sky Season 2 Episode 6 - Black Pudding
    8.5/10(113 votes)

    S2:E6

    In a moment of weakness famous cookery writer Hilary Smallwood has given her unscrupulous nephew Colin a Power of Attorney. He has sold her house and put her into a retirement home; now he is trying to steal her recently written memoirs. Hilary calls on Henry Crabbe and her lifelong friend Seymour to help. Meantime there is friction behind the scenes in the restaurant between Steve and John.

    Director:Danny Hiller
    Writer:Andrew Payne

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  3. Pie in the Sky Season 2 Episode 10 - Lemon Twist
    8.5/10(98 votes)

    S2:E10

    Crabbe has to join ACC Fisher and DS Cambridge on a management development seminar, but Fisher is having a crisis of confidence in 'The Job' and after a rave review, 'Pie' has customers queuing at the door - could this be Crabbe's chance to leave the Force and concentrate on cooking?

    Director:Lawrence Gordon Clark
    Writer:Andrew Payne

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  4. Pie in the Sky Season 4 Episode 4 - New Leaf
    8.3/10(89 votes)

    S4:E4

    When Fisher allocates Henry to guard Sasha Wilkes,due to testify against her gangster husband, in the police 'safe house',D.C.I. Harding,who had expected the job,is resentful. Sasha is initially hostile but,won over by Henry's cooking,comes to confide in him. Harding uses a drug pusher called Vicky, who once knew Henderson, to discredit Henry and also discloses the safe house's location to Wilkes. Henry averts disaster and parts as friends with Sasha but wonders if they were used as bait by Fisher because he already suspected Harding.

    Director:Keith Boak
    Writer:Robert Jones

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  5. Pie in the Sky Season 4 Episode 6 - Gary's Cake
    8.3/10(91 votes)

    S4:E6

    An armed hold-up at 'Pie in the Sky' while jewel-rich Mrs. Burdett is present brings DS Stringer to investigate. His abrasive manner alienates all the restaurant staff, including the normally placid Henry. He accuses first Gary, then Nicola and her new boy friend Paul of passing on the information regarding the Burdetts' booking to the thieves. But Henry's judicious questioning of the victim brings the solution, in time for Gary to celebrate two years of sobriety.

    Director:Bill Pryde
    Writer:Andrew Payne

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  6. Pie in the Sky Season 1 Episode 6 - Undesirable Elements
    8.2/10(123 votes)

    S1:E6

    Steve investigates the burglary of Pie in the Sky, while Henry does battle with murderous private sector cops.

    Director:Colin Gregg
    Writer:Andrew Payne

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Pie in the Sky

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  7. Pie in the Sky Season 2 Episode 2 - Brown Bread
    8.2/10(115 votes)

    S2:E2

    A diner collapses and dies in the restaurant's toilet. But when the police arrive the body has disappeared. Soon on the scene are two detectives from the Crime Squad, who have a long standing interest in the dead man, and in his missing car. Crabbe tracks down the car before they do and finds a huge sum of money in the boot.

    Director:Martin Hutchings
    Writer:Andrew Payne

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  8. Pie in the Sky Season 2 Episode 8 - The Mild Bunch
    8.2/10(104 votes)

    S2:E8

    The man who shot PC Ian Lefebvre is due for release so Fisher wants to keep Lefebvre busy. What better than sending him off with Crabbe in search of two OAP con-women and the perfect bread and butter pudding?

    Director:Danny Hiller
    Writer:John Milne

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  9. Pie in the Sky Season 2 Episode 9 - The Mystery of Pikey
    8.2/10(100 votes)

    S2:E9

    There's a spate of burglaries, the local police station's closed down and the great and good of Middleton, headed by Mr. Chukky Chicken' Barry Wilkes, want Crabbe to catch the thief, popularly believed to be teenager Karl Elves or 'Pikey'. To their dismay, Crabbe is much more interested in pike than 'Pikey'.

    Director:Danny Hiller
    Writer:John Milne

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  10. Pie in the Sky Season 3 Episode 6 - Coddled Eggs
    8.2/10(85 votes)

    S3:E6

    Car crime is on the rise, with most of the vehicles being stolen from the car park at the railway station. Henry's problems mount as he not only has to deal with two separate sets of thieves, but also with a hostile new female Superintendent. Things come to a head when Fisher's car is nicked at the station right under his nose. Back at the restaurant Gary and Margaret are being given a hard time by an over-zealous Food Inspector. Will she do as she is threatening and close the restaurant down?

    Director:David Innes Edwards
    Writer:John Milne

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  11. Pie in the Sky Season 2 Episode 1 - Hard Cheese
    8.1/10(119 votes)

    S2:E1

    Henry investigates a prowler fond of older ladies, and begins to suspect the celibate supplier of his cheese.

    Director:Jim Hill
    Writer:Andrew Payne

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  12. Pie in the Sky Season 3 Episode 3 - Irish Stew
    8.1/10(96 votes)

    S3:E3

    The large family of much-married Irishwoman Kit Kelly book the restaurant for a wedding banquet for her and her new husband, American television writer Byron De Goris. Byron's briefcase is stolen from his hotel and Henry is suspicious of his reaction and even more so when Margaret tells him that the groom is not Byron De Goris but his friend James Jackson. Margaret had known them both thirty years earlier and discovers that Byron killed himself and James assumed his identity. Henry has to find out why.

    Director:Keith Boak
    Writer:Christina Reid

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  13. Pie in the Sky Season 3 Episode 4 - Doggett's Coat and Badge
    8.1/10(89 votes)

    S3:E4

    Charles Rider, a wine-loving regular at Pie in the Sky, is being threatened. It turns out he is really Joseph Webb, an ex-burglar turned supergrass, and now in witness protection. His collection includes many valuable bottles of wine, some of them stolen property and formerly owned by a bent policeman. His cronies have tracked Webb down and want the most priceless bottle back. So Rider comes to Henry Crabbe for help. Can Crabbe restore justice while keeping his friend safe?

    Director:Danny Hiller
    Writer:John Milne

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  14. Pie in the Sky Season 4 Episode 5 - Breaking Bread
    8.1/10(88 votes)

    S4:E5

    The 'Happy Ploughman' food chain has won the franchise for the Police canteen, but is being subjected to deliberate vandalism. An obvious suspect is Flora McKee, a local baker who was not only rejected as a supplier to the firm, but was upset by improper advances made to her by its manager, Geoff Reece. Spurred on by Fisher, Henry tracks down the culprit and solves an old mystery into the bargain.

    Director:Paul Harrison
    Writer:Robert Jones

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  15. Pie in the Sky Season 1 Episode 10 - Endangered Species
    8.0/10(104 votes)

    S1:E10

    Margaret and Henderson side with Reynard the Fox in opposing a new bypass, while Henry must question his loyalties.

    Director:Lawrence Gordon Clark
    Writer:Andrew Payne

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  16. Pie in the Sky Season 2 Episode 4 - The One That Got Away
    8.0/10(114 votes)

    S2:E4

    Bill Pritchard, an old friend of Henry's and the supplier of fish to the restaurant, is accused of murder when his girl friend's car is found abandoned and the ashes in his smokehouse show traces of human remains. Henry investigates and uncovers an amazing plot to frame Bill and steal the profits from the subsequent sale of his business.

    Director:Martin Hutchings
    Writer:Richard Maher

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  17. Pie in the Sky Season 3 Episode 1 - Money Talks
    8.0/10(102 votes)

    S3:E1

    The restaurant is heavily in debt, and the Crabbe's new bank manager is unsympathetic. Steve and John have left for pastures new, and an agency chef is unsatisfactory. Crabbe learns that Dudley Hooperman is dead, and resurrects his hopes of early retirement. Meantime there is a surveillance operation to be run on a dodgy pizza delivery business.

    Director:Martin Hutchings
    Writer:Andrew Payne

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  18. Pie in the Sky Season 4 Episode 3 - Chinese Whispers
    8.0/10(91 votes)

    S4:E3

    The Chen family appear to be victims of racial harassment when their Chinese takeaway is set fire to but widowed Mr. Chen will not go to the police so his daughter Mei asks Henry for help, It turns out that Chen is a gambler deeply in debt to a restauranteur in London's Chinatown who has been has been threatening him for the money he owes. When Pie in the Sky makes it to the final of the Great British Grub contest being held in London, Henry uses the trip to visit Chinatown and act as go-between. A winner and a loser return to Middleton come the end of the day.

    Director:Bill Pryde
    Writer:Andrew Payne

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  19. Pie in the Sky Season 1 Episode 4 - Once a Copper
    7.9/10(127 votes)

    S1:E4

    Henry cooks a banquet for a visiting Japanese delegation, and tracks down a criminal from his past, who was presumed dead.

    Director:George Case
    Writers:John Flanagan, Andrew McCulloch

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  20. Pie in the Sky Season 3 Episode 2 - Game Pie
    7.9/10(96 votes)

    S3:E2

    Henry supplies the catering at his friend Alistair's pheasant shoot, where Fisher is among the guests. Another member of the party is shot and killed and it looks as if Fisher accidentally shot him but Henry's investigation reveals a crime of passion involving a love triangle, a jealous husband - and a cover-up.

    Director:Martin Hutchings
    Writer:Richard Maher

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  21. Pie in the Sky Season 5 Episode 1 - Squashed Tomatoes
    7.9/10(99 votes)

    S5:E1

    DI Crabbe's first job with his new team of PC Guthrie and WPC Morton is to guard a new housing development which has been subjected to vandalism. Nearby villagers claim that one of the houses is built in the path of a centuries old right of way. Henderson is in trouble for growing and selling varieties of tomatoes not approved by the E.E.C. And the new waitress in the restaurant gets the cold shoulder from Gary, who is missing the recently departed Nicola.

    Director:Bill Pryde
    Writer:Andrew Payne

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  22. Pie in the Sky Season 5 Episode 6 - The Apprentice
    7.9/10(96 votes)

    S5:E6

    As Fisher launches a campaign to make the police more popular with young people a boy called Nicky comes to Pie in the Sky, claiming he is there for work experience. Henry uses him in the kitchen and he impresses everyone but then the till is robbed and Nicky, who was not sent by any school, goes missing. His mother last saw him a week earlier, the night an off-licence was robbed by a violent teenage gang. Henry tracks Nicky down to a childhood haunt and finds out that he was bullied into joining the gang and now regrets it, which he proves by leading them into a police trap.

    Director:Morag Fullarton
    Writer:Ann-Marie di Mambro

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  23. Pie in the Sky Season 5 Episode 7 - In the Smoke
    7.9/10(101 votes)

    S5:E7

    The Crabbes holiday in London in a flat owned by ex-policeman Nick Spencer whilst he is in America on business. However Margaret finds his packed suitcase under the bed and hears an answer-machine message from his daughter warning that her violent ex-con boyfriend Danny is on his way to see him. Henry discovers Nick in hiding whilst Margaret discovers Danny's corpse in the dust-bin, killed in self-defence by Nick. Henry's loyalty is put to the test, as is the patience of Sally and Gary when the agency staff turn out to be a quarrelsome married couple.

    Director:David Innes Edwards
    Writer:Andrew Payne

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  24. Pie in the Sky Season 1 Episode 3 - An Innocent Man
    7.8/10(128 votes)

    S1:E3

    Pie in the Sky becomes the scene of a corruption sting, but Henry acts in favour of his customer.

    Director:Martin Hutchings
    Writer:Andrew Payne

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  25. Pie in the Sky Season 1 Episode 8 - A Matter of Taste
    7.8/10(115 votes)

    S1:E8

    Henry uncovers two separate wine scams in Middleton.

    Director:Martin Hutchings
    Writer:Richard Maher

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Best Episodes Summary

"Smelling of Roses" is the best rated episode of "Pie in the Sky". It scored 8.7/10 based on 100 votes. Directed by Rob Evans and written by Andrew Payne, it aired on 8/17/1997. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "Black Pudding".