In the Heat of the Night Episode Rating Graph

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 Sparta.Althea is uncomfortable because she and Matthew were romantically involved before she met Virgil and she realizes that he is unwilling to accept the fact that she chose Virgil over him.Meanwhile the F.B.I. enlist Sparta P.D.'s aid in hiding a witness.

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 wealthiest and most influential citizens.As they come closer to the truth things become dangerous for Virgil.

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 adversary's return to Sparta.Nan finds herself in danger after she finds out the truth about her new love.

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 - who resents having an officer hired without his approval.Virgil has trouble adjusting to the small, antiquated police force.Tibbs' first case is a racially charged murder case that is soon complicated when the suspect is murdered in his cell.

Harriet's sister is murdered on the orders of the wealthy white man who fathered her child.

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 are the bluesman who wrote the song and a retired sheriff.

The murder of well respected man turns up a shocking secret about his family.

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 Hughes"". Suspicion immediately falls on an eccentric woman who lives in the woods with her pigs and chases away trespassers with a shotgun.The officers ask the landowner's disturbed son for help and Bubba is surprised to find that a woman he attended high school with is working as the man's ""nurse"".Also Parker and Sweet compete with one another to solve the case.

A minister who was integrating his church(by inviting Virgil and Althea to attend services)is poisoned.

A copycat recreates a shocking unsolved murder from the past.Gillespie feels threatened after Ted Marcus suggests that Virgil should become the Chief.The situation becomes more tense after Virgil criticizes Parker and Bubba's actions.

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 friends with in high school.

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 use the case to further his career.

Tibbs,Gillespie and Bubba pursue different leads in a bizarre murder case and the Chief realizes that the killer has plans for him.

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 feelings about the death penalty when the prisoner asks him to witness his death.

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 difficult time persuading Gillespie, who is a long time friend of the man and Bubba, who has been seeing the cousin.Bubba and Virgil clash again and Virgil is frustrated when the Chief rejects his theory about the crime.

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 hostage.

The police search for a burglar who preys on elderly women.And the prime suspect is the son of a city councilwoman.

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 enlists his aid in tracking down Bubba's cousin, a suspected moonshiner.

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 given him an alibi.Virgil tries to control his anger - until the man returns to intimidate Althea.And Gillespie tries to convince the wife to tell the truth.

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 other driver, Althea tries to help the victim's families deal with their loss. The accident brings back painful memories for retired officer Tom Dugan.Meanwhile, district attorney Dutton accuses the department of being inadequate.

A bitter strike leads to a murder investigation on a snowy day in Sparta.

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 their husband.

The past comes back to haunt JoAnn in the form of an escaped convict.

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 her from her estranged husband, but things get complicated after she shoots someone.

The father of a man Gerard prosecuted kidnaps the DA's daughter.

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 become very fond of.

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 will move his business to Sparta,but not all of his business interests are legal.The nephew of an old friend of Gillespie's finds his life in danger after he steals drugs stored in the businessman's mansion.

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 been intimidating the women.

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 shot was a teenaged girl - and no one can locate the gun he believed she was pointing at him.

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 against the police -- and Virgil clouds her memory of the incident.

Sparta P.D. gets it's first black policewoman.

Eugene tries to protect a friend who was an unwilling accomplice to a robbery and in doing so endangers his probation -- and his life.

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 younger sibling.

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 murder investigation in which a young boy has been implicated.

Lonnie makes a heartbreaking discovery about a woman he dated in high school.

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 he tries another method to bring Trundel to justice.

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 clients is guilty of murder.

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.

A mild mannered school teacher is accused of child molestation.

An unhappy wife asks her lover to place a bomb in her abusive husband's truck.

A game of high stakes poker ends in murder.

A flirtatious schoolteacher is stalked by a madman.

Sweet is heartbroken when an elderly woman who befriended him is murdered in her bookstore.

A Rabbi returns to Sparta after many years.Racists vandalize his synagogue and soon after their Torah is stolen.Forbes investigates but the Rabbi refuses to trust Bill because of his inaction while investigating a hate crime many years ago.

A white supremacist politician plans to have his wife's lover murdered and blame it on black radicals.

A political prisoner who entered the country illegally,seeks sanctuary in a monastary.Gillespie and Tibbs find themselves at odds with Sheriff McComb when they try to help the man.

A swindlers homecoming upsets his wife and the families of his victims - especially Etta.

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.

Harriet tries to stop an arrogant developer from destroying an important archeological site.

In the Heat of the Night: Give Me Your Life is a film directed by Russ Mayberry released on May 11, 1994.

In the Heat of the Night: A Matter of Justice is a film directed by Reza Badiyi released on Oct 21, 1994.

Acting Sheriff Gillespie must decide whether he should run for sheriff or retire from law enforcement.It soon becomes apparent that the other candidate is corrupt and dangerous.

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 with the criminals who actually committed the crime.Gillespie looks into his story, while Virgil and the boys track down the shooter.Meanwhile, the young mans presence triggers a surprisingly bitter reaction from Parker, who views him as a painful reminder of the war.

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 and soon one of her most vocal critics is found murdered.

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 from testifying.

Gillespie,Tibbs and Father DiMarco must stand trial for harbouring a fugitive and obstructing justice.

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 once engaged to Parker.

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 really responsible.

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 murdered.Harriet hopes that art therapy can help the man's traumatized son,who becomes a target himself when the killer realizes he witnessed the crime.

In this Christmas episode the officers share memories with a reporter from the Sparta Herald.

Virgil soon regrets telling an old friend that his new business partners are being investigated by the police.

Parker protects a blind woman who heard her neighbors murder.

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 investigator to solve the crime.

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 truckers.

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 his daughter,but Lana doesn't seem to be interested.Officer Randy Goode helps keep the bad guys at bay by playing them a little tune on the guitar.

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 of her relationship with her psychiatrist.

A night of revelry at a local pond turns deadly.

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 keep the cult members under control.Soon a standoff develops and the officers realize that they have no intention of surrendering.Sarah is taken hostage.As they attempt to rescue the women and children Lonnie and Parker find themselves defusing a bomb and Bubba risks his life to rescue a small child from the building.

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 divulge his identity.

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.

A city councilwoman becomes dangerously obsessed with Bubba.

A bottle of spiked moonshine leads to an accident that claims the life of one teen and blinds another.

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 man who ordered the murder of her sister.

A neglected baby stirs maternal feelings in Luann.

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 don't believe she is guilty.

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 in murder.

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 robbery/murder.

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 arrest the man who committed the crime.

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 girlfriend.

Racists target a ceremony honoring a civil rights pioneer.

An ex-convict attempts to retrieve his loot from his wife and her new husband in this tongue-in-cheek episode.

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 ends in violence.

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 his past.