State of Play

When a political researcher named Sonia Baker falls on the Tube tracks and is killed, it devastates her young Labour MP boss. The press smells blood and questions are asked about the nature of his relationship with Sonia. The story is pursued by a leading broadsheet, and its senior reporter, Cal McCaffrey is put on the case - his long-standing friendship with Collins considered a bonus to the editor. Cal is uncomfortable with pursuing what amounts to a domestic scandal until his colleague, Della Smith, discovers a surprising link between Sonia's death and the murder of a black teenager named Kelvin Stagg that same morning. Someone clearly wanted Sonia dead, but why?

After the murder of DI Brown, the Met put the tough minded DCI Bell on the investigation. He knows Della is withholding information and is determined to find out what she and Cal know. Meanwhile, Stephen Collins' story becomes more complicated when an anonymous fax reveals that his affair with Sonia was far from being a superficial thing - Stephen was going to leave his wife Anne for her. This doesn't go down well with the party's spin doctor, Andrew Wilson, who is trying to keep Stephen's reputation intact. Cal is also worried about why Stephen lied to him? What's worse, Cal finds it increasingly hard to steer a professional line when Anne leans on him for support and information. Worse still, the trust between him and Della disintegrates when she realises her life is in danger.

Cal is released from jail by DCI Bell and colludes with him in a plan to smoke out the hitman. As Cal waits it out, his team pin the author of the anonymous letters to a City wideboy named Dominic Foy. The discovery that he had a sexual history with Sonia leads the team to suspect that he's guilty, but is Stephen also hiding something from them? How did Sonia know she had a job in Stephen's office one month before he interviewed her? Meanwhile, Cal's personal and professional life gets hopelessly tangled when Anne Collins urges him to meet her at a hotel. Their passion is leading them towards love, but the costs of this are explosive.

Stephen's disgust over Cal and Anne's affair leads him to tell Andrew Wilson to spin the news around the press and ruin Cal's reputation. His only supporter now is the energy minister, George Fergus, who wills him to succeed. Cal and his team corner Dominic Foy, who is edgy and obstructive and constantly changes his story. He's clearly running scared, but why? Was Foy Sonia's secret lover? Meanwhile Stephen makes a sickening discovery that could put paid to his political career. Now he needs Cal.

When the UK's largest oil company gets wind of where the paper's investigation is heading, Cameron finds himself under pressure from his board and makes a startling decision. Sensing that his team is close to snaring their prey, Cal invites Stephen to listen in to an interview with Dominic Foy, hoping that with a few well-aimed questions the increasingly paranoid Foy will crack.

Stephen Collins is single minded now in his obsession - who in the government knew Sonia was a plant? And why are they protecting George Fergus? His anger at the scale of the deception leads him to Cal once more, he wants to bring George down at all costs. His love for Sonia demands it. But with the papers' executive editor putting a brake on the story, Cal and Cameron hatch a plan to print it. With the stakes at their highest, the story takes a final, gut-wrenching turn.