'Exacting Justice', originally transmitted on BBC1, 9 January 2001
Written by G.F. Newman, Directed by Alrick Riley

Maurice Haart murders Alex Redburn, the man who killed his daughter in a hit-and-run incident months earlier. Judge Deed accompanies his daughter Charlie to University and meets her friend Rory, an eco-warrior. Deed's fellow judge Michael Niven has a heart attack and Deed decides to takes over the Haart case he was due to preside over. The Lord Chancellor's office doesn't want Deed, fearing he will be lenient, whereas they want to make an example of Haart to discourage vigilantes. Deed's old girlfriend Jo Mills is defending Haart.

Charlie and Rory are arrested while sabotaging GM crops. Charlie's mother refuses to help, so Deed posts bail. When Rory is arrested for setting fire to a warehouse, Charlie asks Deed to intervene. Deed sees that this will also implicate Charlie, as Rory's only alibi is that he was with Charlie attacking another pharmaceutical building at the time. Deed goes to see his friend Rowe, a Deputy Assistant Commissioner in the police. Rowe tells him that Rory is not trustworthy. Deed asks Sir Joseph Channing, his ex-father-in-law and Charlie's grandfather, to help her, but he refuses. However, Charlie's mother later tells Deed that Joseph got Rory's case thrown out.

Maurice reveals that on the same day he shot Redburn, after learning that he had been let off with a non-custodial sentence, he saw him driving around in the same van that killed his daughter. Despite this, Maurice refuses to testify. Deed asks Jo to ensure that Maurice gives a statement to the court if he is found guilty. Simon Dymock of the Lord Chancellor's Office tries to get Deed to resign by threatening to reveal how he helped Charlie. Deed knows from Rowe that Dymock's information was obtained by unauthorised use of the police computer. He tells Dymock that if he releases the news, they will both be looking for new jobs.

The jury find Maurice guilty. He gives a statement from the dock, explaining that he was provoked into his actions by seeing Redburn driving his van that day. Deed asks the jury if perhaps they made a mistake when reading out their verdict. They take the opportunity to change their verdict to not guilty. Although many in the court are outraged, Deed pretends that the jury made a genuine error in reading out the verdict and so Maurice is released.