Season 7

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.

Hampton Forbes assumes the office of Chief of Police and Bill becomes the Sheriff of Newman county.Former Spartan Wade Hatton returns to Sparta hoping to make sense of his life and rekindle his relationship with Sarah Hallisey.Bubba and Covey take the new chief on a tour of Sparta and Bill takes Wade to visit some distant cousins.Meanwhile two young criminals involve a mentally handicapped young man in a terrible crime.

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.

The daughter of an old friend asks Bubba to arrest the man who knowingly gave her AIDS.

A night of revelry at a local pond turns deadly.

Lana's ex- boyfriend comes to see her and brings a load of stolen rifles with him.

Luann moonlights as a singer at a nightclub and finds romance with the clubs owner.Her happiness is shortlived when she realizes that the bartender is dealing drugs.

Attorney Virgil Tibbs returns to Sparta and is soon assigned his first case as a defense attorney.

Bubba travels to Atlanta to help his nephew after the boy overdoses on drugs.He soon teams up with a street wise cop to take down the drug ring.

Tragic story of an alcoholic teen who accidentally kills a little girl while she is drinking and driving.

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.

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.

Lonnie must protect his Aunt Cordelia when her cherished friendship with Ches Collins angers one of his cousins.

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 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.

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

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

Comedic episode in which Parker's ne'er-do-well stepfather returns to Sparta with a new wife, a stolen painting and two inept art thieves who are determined to steal the painting back.

Bill and Harriet's wedding plans are interrupted by a sniper who mistakes Bill for Sheriff McComb.

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

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.