In The Heat Of The Night

Twenty years after a young woman is gruesomely murdered, a similar crime is committed where the victim's heart is removed. Chief Gillespie and Detective Tibbs must work together to unravel the mystery as tension builds between the two of them.

A respected citizen and prominent businessman of Sparta (Wallace Wilkinson) is mysteriously murdered after a dedication ceremony for a statue he created in the town center...and his family are the prime suspects as a dark family secret is revealed.

An unexpected visit from Virgil's best friend and former partner in Philadelphia, Matthew Pogue, happens to coincide with the murder of two federal agents and an organized crime witness. Could the two events be connected?

Chief Bill Gillespie discovers that a longtime friend and sheriff of neighboring Butler County, Ed Thompson, is a racist. In good conscience, he must investigate the deaths of black prisoners as racial tensions boil over between the two counties.

Officer Bubba Skinner is seduced by a beautiful lady who has taken residence in Sparta in order to write a novel. But when her estranged ex-husband shows up, things become much more complicated, and Bubba is faced with a life-changing decision.

Virgil believes he acted in self-defense when he shoots a robbery suspect. But when the teenage girl's gun cannot be found, suspicions arise, even he begins to doubt his own actions. Chief Bill Gillespie does all he can to clear his detective.

Virgil Tibbs’s niece and Bubba Skinner's nephew, teenagers from different worlds, find common ground -- and trouble -- in Sparta. Soon the two are swept up with an ex-con recently paroled from prison, and Gillespie is none too happy about it.

Gillespie (Carroll O'Connor) suspects a newly arrived short order cook in town may be involved in the recent murder of a young prostitute. Virgil (Howard Rollins) thinks otherwise and is out to prove that a local criminal is to blame.

Virgil and his wife, Althea, are invited to attend services at an all-white church. While attending the service, the reverend collapses, dead at the foot of the pulpit. It seems that not everyone was happy with the pastor's integration plan.

When Gillespie (Carroll O'Connor) is informed that a death row prisoner wants him present at his execution, the chief struggles over whether capital punishment is cruel and unusual punishment or an appropriate sentence for the crime he committed.

Twelve years ago, Joanne (Lois Nettleton) convinced two friends to testify against their pimp for the murder of a prostitute. Now, three convicts escape from prison, and one of them is out for revenge against the women who sent him to prison.

Tragically, a tiny newborn infant is found dead in the Sparta city dump, and more than just the teenage mother is suspect. Virgil (Howard Rollins) tries to unravel the heartbreaking story of a young teenage girl who was left by her baby's father.

Detective Virgil Tibbs investigates a series of elderly citizens that are being beaten and robbed. Things become more complicated as Detective Tibbs in-laws are visiting from Philadelphia trying to get him and his wife to move back home.

Tibbs and Sweet investigate a woman who has been beaten and left for dead on the banks of a local creek. Tibbs, in particular, takes an interest in this possible wife beating case and, in the process, unlocks part of his difficult and painful past.

Detective Virgil Tibbs and Chief Bill Gillespie investigate a murder of a father of two very different daughters who are caught up in a case of intense sibling rivalry...one that may have led one or both of them to murder.

Virgil (Howard Rollins) and Gillespie (Carroll O'Connor) are faced with a violent labor strike at the local Sparta river plant. And tension run even higher when a local city councilman is murdered when he tries to intervene between the two sides.

Tensions run high in the police department and in Sparta when Bubba is accused of attacking a black woman. And when a second woman comes forward from Bubba's past with similar claims, Virgil steps in to try and help clear his name.

Sparta is celebrating their high school's victory at the regional basketball tournament, but the shock of a deadly hit-and-run accident after the game turns their happiness into a nightmare. Detective Tibbs struggles to find the driver responsible.

While Chief Bill Gillespie is out of town, a series of mysterious fires break out in town. Virgil (Howard Rollins) and the rest of the Sparta police department struggle to find out who is setting these arson fires that soon turn deadly.

When a couple walking their dog in the forest discover a human leg bone, the Sparta police immediately question an eccentric old lady named Adah Boone, known as the "Pig Lady," who lives nearby and who everyone believes is a witch.

When Detective Tibbs investigates Chief Gillespie's kidnapping, all the signs seem to point to a racially motivated crime, but Virgil and officer Bubba Skinner are convinced that acting Chief Tom Dugan may somehow be involved.