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In the Heat of the Night Season 7 Episodes
Season 7 Episode Guide
24 Episodes 1993 - 1994
Episode 1
Child's Play
Thu, Sep 16, 199345 mins
Many changes come to Sparta. Virgil Tibbs has left the Sparta Police Department and he, Althea and their twins have returned to Philadelphia, PA so Virgil can complete his law school studies. Bill Gillespie has been voted out as chief and is replaced by FBI Agent Hampton Forbes from Memphis, TN. Forbes inherits the case of a reclusive man who is murdered as he is awaiting trial for manslaughter.
Episode 2
Hatton's Turn: Part 1
Sat, Sep 18, 199346 mins
Gillespie gets the last laugh against the city council when he is named Newman County Sheriff to replace an ailing Will McComb, who has suffered a heart attack. As county sheriff, Gillespie's first case is that of a triple murder, where the investigation points to a good natured, mentally challenged teenage boy.
Episode 3
Hatton's Turn: Part 2
Sat, Sep 18, 199347 mins
Continuation of Episode #7.2. Chief Hampton Forbes investigates his first case in Sparta. Coley Hiffern and Nat Bream take Henry Ulmer to a remote location to kill him, but Nat cannot go through with it. After Henry escapes Coley kills Nat and steals Henry's car. When Henry is arrested, Wade Hatton refuses to act as his attorney, preferring to let Sarah Hallisey defend the young man. Coley hijacks a car and kills the driver. Henry confesses to being on the scene of the robbery/murder and blames it on Indian Tilly for spreading the rumors about the great sums of money in the victims' home. Forbes and Gillespie forge strong bonds of joint action in the investigation.
Episode 4
A Depraved Heart
Thu, Sep 23, 199345 mins
As Lori Foster breaks into David Monroe's house and steals a bottle of AZT, prescription medication for AIDS, she is seen by a next-door neighbor who reports it to the police. At the same time, Monroe romances Tamara Naylor while showing her a home for sale. They are spied by Tamara's husband Carl. When questioned, Lori accuses Monroe of murder for willfully infecting her with HIV. After reflection, District Attorney Darnelle agrees to try the case as evidence of a "depraved heart." Before charges can be filed, Monroe is killed by two gunshots through the window by an unknown assailant. The investigation reveals AIDS as a gift that keeps on giving.
Episode 5
Incident at Brewer's Pond
Thu, Sep 30, 199345 mins
Harley Eaton's watermelon patch is raided and vandalized by Cowboy Habersham, Donnie Cole and their rowdy friends. At Brewer's Pond the men engage in a swimming contest with a greased watermelon. After the game is over, the couples pair up and leave the pond. The next day Donnie is missing. Rumor says that Donnie has been romancing Cowboy's wife, Marlene, and that Cowboy is indifferent to the situation. Marlene is a waitress at a cafe owned by Cal Sims, who has offered a generous amount to buy Cowboy's sporting goods store. Sheriff Bill Gillespie and Chief Hampton Forbes cooperate in the investigation.
Episode 6
A Love Lost
Thu, Oct 14, 199360 mins
Sheriff Bill Gillespie's daughter Lana's boyfriend from Gulfport, Lee Thompson, shows up in Sparta. He is part of a gunrunning plot with sporting goods store-owner Raymond Mercer. Lana is conflicted whether or not she wants Lee around, and Bill can't help her make a decision.
Episode 7
Singin' the Blues
Thu, Oct 28, 199346 mins
Troy Davis asks Luann Corbin to sing at the new nightclub he manages. Drug dealer Brent Shaw coerces Troy into hiring a new bartender and offers Troy free drugs to hook him again. Troy hires the bartender but declines the drugs. Luann is a huge success at the club. She notices that the bartender is dealing and overhears plans for a big delivery. Luann reports everything to the Sparta police but is conflicted about Troy. Is he really clean?
Episode 8
Virgil Tibbs: Attorney at Law
Thu, Nov 4, 199346 mins
Ex-Chief of Detectives Virgil Tibbs returns to Sparta as a full-fledged lawyer. He and his wife Althea have separated, and she has taken their twins back to live in Philadelphia. At Virgil's first appearance in court, Judge Sims appoints him to represent pro bono an accused murderer, Delbert Pike. Pike wants to plead self-defense, but a dying declaration from the victim, Eli Chambers, blames Pike directly. Notorious womanizer Pike was sleeping with Chambers' wife Amanda, who offers to testify against her lover as a witness for the prosecution.
Episode 9
Every Man's Family
Wed, Nov 10, 199346 mins
Matt Skinner, Bubba's nephew, is in critical condition in an Atlanta hospital, overdosed on heroin. Bubba flies to Atlanta. Heroin is found in Matt's apartment, and his pusher, Derrick, tries to collect for past sales. Bubba follows Derrick and almost blows undercover Atlanta police officer Walker Harris' cover. Bubba puts Matt in rehab and takes a leave of absence from the Sparta police to help his nephew and find Derrick's supplier. Bubba and Walker team up.
Episode 10
A Baby Called Rocket
Thu, Nov 25, 199346 mins
There is a drive-by shooting in the Bottoms that almost hits Ned, an African-American youth. Parker Williams and Luann Corbin investigate and find an abandoned biracial infant boy in the house. Luann is attracted to the infant, and child welfare worker Lilly Baker asks her to take the boy for a few days until permanent foster care can be arranged. Chief Hampton Forbes questions slumlord Barton Stone about the wretched condition of the house and threatens to begin proceedings to take the property from him. Stone is killed. The investigation turns up the infant's Caucasian mother, Cassie Green, who accuses Ned of being the father of her child, Rocket. Luann becomes increasingly more attached to Rocket and is distressed that child welfare policy favors returning abandoned children to their natural parents.
Episode 11
Little Girl Lost
Thu, Dec 9, 199360 mins
A drunk driver, eighteen-year-old Holly Maynard, runs down a skateboarder, ten-year-old Deenia Larson, and flees the scene. Eddie the ice cream man reports the incident to the police. Holly confesses the hit-and-run to her mother Cynthia, pleading for help. Driving recklessly to leave town, Holly is arrested for DUI and speeding. When her car is identified and Deenia dies in the hospital, a charge of vehicular manslaughter is added. Irate citizens demonstrate against Holly outside City Hall. A judge orders Holly undergo a psychological examination, but the Sparta City Council has no funds for such things. A psychiatrist friend of Sheriff Gillespie, Dr. Atwill, offers his service pro bono, but the treatment comes too late for the devastated Holly.
Episode 12
Your Own Kind
Thu, Dec 16, 199345 mins
Harriet Delong helps open a new art gallery on the Sparta square to benefit pregnant teenagers, as the Sparta High School track team prepares for an upcoming meet with Capt. Bubba Skinner and Lt. Lonnie Jamison as volunteer coaches. The team is racially mixed, evidencing the peaceful "new South" of the time. During a practice, Marissa Rask, a Caucasian girl, and David Collins, an African-American boy, embrace and kiss. The moment is cut short by a sniper's bullet into Marissa's back. The sniper turns out to be ultra-racist Brent Lunay (episode #5.15, "Odessa"), who is seen by Skip Coopersmith leaving the area. Marissa may not walk again. The high school principal accuses Lonnie of neglect in allowing the shooting to occur. A major question for investigators is: who was the target?
Episode 13
Good Cop, Bad Cop
Thu, Jan 6, 199445 mins
Sgt. Parker Williams sees his ex-fiancée, Beverly Ross, and her new love, Ned Phelps, buying cocaine from a suspected drug dealer. Parker stakes out Beverly's home and reports her for holding. Before police back-up arrives, Parker bursts in and fights with Phelps, who goes down seriously wounded. In the hospital, Phelps accuses Parker of attempted murder, which Beverly corroborates. District Attorney Darnelle has to file charges against Parker before the grand jury, which indicts on Beverly's perjured testimony. Parker asks Virgil Tibbs to defend him.
Episode 14
Maybelle Returns
Wed, Jan 12, 199446 mins
Ex-madam Maybelle Cheseboro returns to Sparta to set up a phone-sex operation under the guise of a communications business. The City Council objects and Lonnie goes to check on the enterprise. One of the most vocal opponents, city planner Drew Ward, takes one of Maybelle's women, Jessica Lund, to a motel where she dies of an epileptic seizure. Lindy, who sat next to Jessica at the phone shop, tries to extort money from Ward. Chief Forbes investigates while Sheriff Gillespie renews an old acquaintance with Maybelle.
Episode 15
The Last Round
Wed, Jan 19, 199460 mins
Angela Dolphy, Chief Forbes's fiancée, is in Sparta from Memphis for a week to entice Forbes to change professions before they get married. The chief arranges a dinner with Bill Gillespie and Harriet DeLong to coax Angela to relocate to Sparta. An example of Forbes's work is the new boxing program for at risk young men. Unfortunately, the finest boxer, African-American Kevin "Cat" Brooks, is involved with a professional burglar, Caucasian Dennis Cantrell, in a series of home invasions and robberies. Forbes and Angela must come to terms with their personal goals and the impact on their relationship.
Episode 16
Ches and the Grand Lady
Wed, Jan 26, 199446 mins
Jazz musician Ches Collins returns to Sparta and it is soon evident that he has a history with Cordelia, the grande dame of Sparta. Cordelia's nephew, Raoul, will stop at nothing to put an end to any hope of a union between the two. It is up to Cordelia's other nephew, Lonnie Jameson, to put an end to Raoul's antics.
Episode 17
Conspiracy of One
Wed, Feb 2, 199446 mins
Council member Holly Colmer heatedly insists that Chief Forbes separate Virgil Tibbs from the Sparta Police Department. Virgil is now an attorney in the law firm of Ben Taylor. At a party given by Taylor, Abby Booker fights with her husband Chuck. On their way home Chuck purposely unbuckles Abby's seat belt and drives into a tree, killing his wife. A moonshiner, Goody Tate, witnesses the incident. Virgil is suspicious and, much to Taylor's chagrin, assists the police in their investigation. Virgil refuses to represent Booker and resigns from the firm. He must decide if he is a detective or a lawyer.
Episode 18
The Rabbi
Wed, Feb 9, 199446 mins
Rabbi Hillel Feldman returns to Sparta to open a new temple in the old Methodist church, a gift to the Jewish community. The temple is vandalized by two teenagers, Kevin Powell and Pete Retson. Chief Hampton Forbes and Harriet DeLong, a high school friend of the rabbi, offer help, which Feldman accepts. However, he eschews calling in Sheriff Bill Gillespie because of old anti-Semitic feelings. The Sparta City Council are generally opposed to the temple's existence. The temple custodian, Jack Bicks, vandalizes the temple and steals a valuable Torah, which he tries to sell to the antiques store owner. Dissatisfied with the price offered, Bicks kills the store owner. Bill Gillespie must face old resentments and old sins, and try to make amends.
Episode 19
Hard Choices
Wed, Mar 9, 199460 mins
Juvenile criminal Zack Hayes and his sidekick Lambert return to Sparta for revenge. They lure Justin Coates into driving his car to a convenience store holdup that turns into a murder. Eugene Glendon, Harriet DeLong's son, arrives to persuade Justin to leave the scene as shots are fired. Racist store owner Carl Buford accuses Eugene of being involved in the incident. Eugene's friend, Daphne Gordon, provides a false alibi, which the police quickly disprove.
Episode 20
Time's Long Shadow
Wed, Mar 16, 199445 mins
Womanizer Frank Davenport is the general contractor on a large residential project in Sparta that threatens an area of slave artifacts. He is also having a torrid affair with his new secretary, Cindy Jenk, whose father Gus is a protective hot head. There are hard feelings, even fights, among the townspeople who either support or oppose stopping the construction project to save the antiquities. It is a toss-up who will get to Davenport first.
Episode 21
Poor Relations
Wed, Mar 30, 199460 mins
Follow-up to Episode #6.14, "A Step Removed". Daddy Roy Eversole, Sgt. Parker Williams' shiftless step-father, returns to Sparta with his current love, Roda, and breaks into Parker's house. As the police arrive to investigate, Roy unloads a painting under the watchful eye of Oscar Vollen, master art thief. Oscar summons his henchman, Bitsy Mergere, to help retrieve the painting. Sheriff Bill Gillespie reminds Roy that he was not welcome in Sparta, and recognizes the painting as a valuable art object. Victor Dufoxe, a tough insurance investigator, follows the painting to Sparta from Miami where it was stolen. The plot is a spoof with a touch of Keystone Crooks, and a classic family squabble.
Episode 22
Dangerous Engagement
Wed, May 4, 199460 mins
The Sparta Herald reports that Bill Gillespie and Harriet DeLong will be married in New Orleans, provoking an egg attack on Harriet's car along with well-wishers from the community. A sniper fires a rifle at the two, apparently in response to their impending marriage. But in reality the sniper, Lucas DeFete from Amarillo, Texas, has seen Bill Gillespie's picture in a newspaper which misidentifies him as Sheriff Will McComb, who sent his father Earle DeFete to death row. Lucas kills Harlan, who owns the property where the sniper has been holed up, and kills Roger Owen, an innocent citizen whose car he steals. In spite of their difficulties, Bill and Harriet resolve to be married by Abbot John Dalton at the monastery in Sparta.
Episode 23
Give Me Your Life: Part 1
Wed, May 11, 199489 mins
Chief Hampton Forbes is concerned when a county child services worker visits the Church of the Celestial Influence and is unsettled by the appearance of a girl she sees there. When the Chief sends Capt. Bubba Skinner and Sgt. Parker Williams out to the church to investigate further, they come across the same girl in which they notice she has bruises on herself. After the girl has been taken to the hospital, Chief Hampton learns that the girl, Clarice Finch, has been sexually abused while at the church. Clarice later informs the doctor at the hospital that she is not the only one being abused at the church. Meanwhile, a break comes in the investigation when a member of the church is apprehended at the Sparta airport receiving a shipment of boxes filled with downers that are used on the Celestials. When the leader of the Church of the Celestial Influence, Marcantony Appfel, refuses to allow the Sparta P.D. to check on the rest of the children inside his church, Chief Hampton realizes he has a perilous hostage situation on his hands. Back from his honeymoon in New Orleans with Harriet DeLong, Sheriff Bill Gillespie gives the Chief some assistance in dealing with this serious matter. Chief Hampton Forbes decides that the only viable option left to save the children inside the church is to attempt a dangerous rescue mission.
Episode 24
Give Me Your Life: Part 2
Wed, May 11, 199460 mins
The investigation uncovers evidence of statutory rape and drug dealing within the cult. It is further complicated by the actions of an overly aggressive newspaper reporter, as well as the discovery of school age children being members of the cult. But in the end, teamwork pays off and everyone is driven out.