bethwilliam Reviews

Taggart: Ends of Justice (2010) Season 27, Episode 6

The end ... maybe.

[8/10 · 20 July 2011]

28 years is a long time in show business.

The final episode ties up the loose ends and leaves the series open for another movie.

Jackie finally receives the promotion she deserves. Burke appears to move upstairs to community liaisons. Robbie Ross falls off the rails but is saved when his mates rally around.

Niall Greig Fullerton returns to play villain and puts in a brilliant performance. Why haven't we seen more of him?

It is a pity that Taggart did not stick to its original format. The one hour episodes did not work. The stories came to an abrupt end. Character development suffered.

But all good things must come to an end. Taggart is to be congratulated. It managed to change with the times but stay true to its theme. Glasgow was always the central character. From the opening scene of the very first episode until the very end - the streets and people of Scotland's largest city were the theme of the show.

So its goodbye Taggart. Thank you for the memories.

Taggart: Bloodsport (2010) Season 27, Episode 5

Taggart has a gambling problem.

[5/10 · 8 July 2011]

This is a sub-standard episode of Taggart. However, Jackie and Robbie finally manage to light up the screen with a pash.

D.I. Robbie Ross is finally confronted with the truth of his addiction. While investigating the murder of a cage fighter the team discover Robbie has been betting on the results.

The one hour format has not allowed for the development of these personal story lines, which is a pity. Now that the series is drawing to a close we have some interesting developments. Jackie is due for a promotion. Burke is under pressure to move up and Ross's life is in chaos. What's the point?

Taggart: Fallen Angels (2010) Season 27, Episode 4

Taggart has a heart.

[8/10 · 27 June 2011]

This is a quality episode that could have been drawn out by another half hour.

The apparent suicide and murder of a family gives our characters opportunity to show case their acting skills. Although Alex Norton still feels the need to grind out every thought.

The producers should have given thought to creating three or four feature length episodes per year. Taggart wasn't broken. It just needed to pace itself.

In the end this episode is a winner. If the series is to end after nearly three decades I'm glad its going out on a high.

Taggart: Silent Truth (2010) Season 27, Episode 3

Taggart and the refugees

[8/10 · 24 June 2011]

This is Taggart at its best. The way it used to be.

The episode opens with a horrific attack on an Iranian refugee. The victim's family is scheduled to be deported. The team first suspect a taxi driver who turns out to be a Gulf war veteran with questionable views. A corrupt immigration official and a crime figure complete the cast of characters.

In the final scene Burke and his team manage to find the common link that ties the characters together.

In the end I couldn't help wonder about Taggart's eventual demise. If it had been able to sustain this level of script writing and acting the series could have had a future.

Taggart: Abuse of Trust (2010) Season 27, Episode 2

Taggart verses the union.

[7/10 · 14 June 2011]

In this episode DCI Burke takes on a union leader caught up in a long running strike. DI Bobbie Ross turns up with a new convertible claiming he paid for it from the proceeds of horse raising. No doubt we will see his integrity brought into question in upcoming episodes. DCI Burke is asked to consider a promotion and his commitment to the job will become an issue also.

Unfortunately Burke's Mr Angry routine is now just tiresome.

Perhaps the most redeeming feature of Taggart is Glasgow itself. The camera frequently lingers on its historical buildings and street scape. Taggarts original concept was to make the city the central character. Perhaps this is why it has lasted for no long.

Taggart: Bad Medicine (2010) Season 27, Episode 1

The case of the dead doctor.

[6/10 · 4 June 2011]

When Taggart first appeared in 1983 it quickly became one of my favorite shows because it was so unpredictable. No matter how hard I tried I could never pick the murderer.

How things have changed.

In BAD MEDICINE you know who the bad guys are the moment they appear. First of all they are English. This is a Scottish show after all. Secondly, they are policemen. This is a formula that has been used before. Finally, they are sneaky. Moretti and Casey turn up in all the wrong places and are even caught rifling through DCI Burke's files.

Taggart looks tired. The shorter format and faster pace have not worked to breath new life into the long running show. Burke's angry glare is now just annoying.

Perhaps it is time to put the old girl out to pasture.

Taggart: Local Hero (2010) Season 26, Episode 2

Taggart gets community minded.

[5/10 · 8 April 2010]

The unstated star of Taggart has always been the city of Glasgow. The Allerdykes Estate is the focus of tonight's episode which deals with tensions between the occupants of an urban project.

The show opens with a victim hanging from a children's playground. The park is often used by drug addicts and prostitutes. But as the team investigates they discover tensions within the community watch committee. In particular a father and son team who have been expelled from the project who had every reason to be angry with the victim.

This episode centers on DS Jackie Reid who falls hard for the youth officer - Harry Wallace. DCI Burke makes life hard for the love starved police woman when he accuses her of losing objectivity.

Unfortunately the detectives discover that Wallace has changed his name and is hiding a violent past.

This is an ordinary episode and feels like we have seen it all before.

Taggart: The Rapture (2010) Season 26, Episode 3

Taggart joins a cult.

[8/10 · 8 April 2010]

Alexander Morton returns to Taggart for the third time as the leader of a cult at the centre of a murder investigation.

DCI Matt Burke is called to investigate when a father and son team are found murdered and their bibles are highlighted in blood. DC Stuart Fraser displays his knowledge of theology by commenting that the underlined passages refer to the second coming of Christ.

Unfortunately the congregation refuses to co-operate with the police causing Burke to come into conflict with the church's leader - James Hardie.

Meanwhile, DS Jackie Reid (Blythe Duff), begins an investigation into the disappearance of the daughter of an old friend, Eileen Mulray (Rachel Ogilvy). When the body of a young woman is found, links begin to appear between the church and the woman's death.

The murderer becomes obvious before the conclusion of the show. However, it is a pleasing episode with excellent performances all round.

Taggart: Fact and Fiction (2009) Season 25, Episode 5

Taggart meets Cold Case

[6/10 · 17 January 2010]

While investigating credit card fraud, Reid and Ross raid a mobile shop for cloning cards and come across a mobile phone that belonged to James Melville, who was murdered three years previous.

The phone was sold by Brian McFarlane on Ebay. McFarlane points the investigators to Phyllis Wade, who claims the phone came from lost property at the University. However, we see that the phone came from Mark Joffe who is having an affair with Wade. Joffe has also written a novel that details a murder identical to the cold case the team is investigating.

The original detective, DCI Wilson, believes Joffe is a serial murderer as several other murders took place at the same time and place as the author's travels abroad. As the investigation continues DCI Burke uncovers an affair that links Melville to Joffe.

This is a well written episode with one weakness. The story comes to an abrupt end when the murderer is caught in a sting.

Taggart: So Long Baby (2009) Season 25, Episode 4

Taggart finds a baby.

[7/10 · 15 January 2010]

As DI Ross leaves work to begin his holiday he finds an abandoned baby on the door step of a neighbor's house. When Ross investigates further he discovers a dead man lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. Ross immediately cancels his holiday to help with the investigation.

The victim turns out to be Jack Revie, a retired businessman. DCI Burke discovers that the victims son, Jamie, was at home taking drugs while the murder was taking place. Joan Revie, the wife, was shopping in London and appears to have an alibi. Meanwhile Burke interviews a friend of Jamie's, Davy, who was also in the house that night and was overheard having an argument with the victim before he was murdered.

Meanwhile the victim's brother in law, Cassidy, reveals that Jack Revie was a often unfaithful to his wife. He insinuates that the abandoned baby may have been left by a distraught mistress.

Jackie Reid finds the mother of the baby. The team also uncovers evidence that half a million pounds is missing from the victim's account.

By the time the murderer is uncovered there are few surprises left. It is a story line that has been used before in other shows. However, that does not take from the quality of this show and its fine acting.

Taggart: The Knife Trick (2009) Season 25, Episode 3

Surprising good!

[8/10 · 28 December 2009]

Alistair Matheson is stabbed to death in a training exercise while teaching a class of cadet policemen. DCI Burke and his team must decide if it was an accident or a well planned murder.

Pippa Harris, a colleague of the victim claims to have seen a suspicious character in the Matheson's office. Ross believes there is more to her story. However, the team start looking at members of the student body.

Meanwhile, Fraser follows a line of inquiry that leads him to Katie Shearer, who is in a coma after attempting suicide. Michael Shearer, her father is the one who stabbed the victim. At the hospital a doctor hands over Katie's diary which her father had tried to destroy. The diary is written in code and Jackie Reid persuades a friend to translate it.

Burke discovers the murder weapon in Shearer's office. It is a prop knife that has been deliberately jammed. The team announce the investigation is now a murder inquiry and Shearer is the prime suspect.

Ross's inquiries lead him to cadet John Goldie who is revealed in the diary to be in a relationship with Katie Shearer. Could he have a motive to frame Shearer?

There are plot turns and surprises aplenty in this fifty minute episode. I was pleasantly surprised that there is still some life in these old bones.

Taggart: Grass (2009) Season 25, Episode 2

Robbie Ross is set up.

[8/10 · 21 December 2009]

DI Ross meets with an informant in a city graveyard. Thomas Duffy, a petty criminal, reveals he has some information and Ross arranges to meet him the next day.

That night, Ross and Fraser go for drinks. When Fraser leaves Ross starts chatting to a woman, Manda. The two leave together. The next morning Ross wakes to find Manda gone – along with his contact book.

When a body is found in the woods Ross arrives at the scene with a hang- over. To his horror, the dead man is Duffy. Spray painted in red next to the body is the word 'GRASS'.

Ross confesses to Reid about the missing book and the two of them return to search Ross' flat, but the book is nowhere to be found. When they scan the CCTV footage from outside his flat, they see Manda handing the book to someone in a car.

Ross is concerned about the contacts in his book and his network of informants. Gangland boss and drug dealer, William Drydon, has been providing information for years, much to the distress of DCI Burke.

At Drydon's mansion, Ross tells the gangster and his wife Carla about Duffy and the missing book, and they both accuse Ross of letting them down.

Meanwhile, Reid and Fraser visit Martin Hayne, a owns a property developer which Drydon used to invest in. They soon discover that Duffy was the grass who turned Martin's son in to the police.

Ross meets with Duffy's brother, Gavin, to find out if he knows what his brother was about to reveal, but Gavin denies all knowledge and blames Ross for his brother's death. That night Drydon is shot dead outside a pool hall.

The next morning, Reid goes to Ross' flat to find him half-asleep and stinking of alcohol. When she tells him of Drydon's murder, Ross is adamant that he must see Carla.

As tensions run high at the station and the team set off to follow other leads, Ross calls on Reid to cover for him one last time. Can he solve the case before his career becomes the next casualty?

With no back-up, Ross follows his instincts to a deadly confrontation with the killer. This is a good episode. The new fifty minute format is starting to take shape. Hopefully Taggart will continue to evolve and gain in quality.

Taggart: Cold Reader (2009) Season 25, Episode 1

Taggart and the psychic.

[7/10 · 12 December 2009]

A young woman, Elaine Donohoe, is kidnapped after hockey practice. The distraught mother asks Clare Vorland, a psychic, to assist the police with their inquiries. DC Stuart Fraser follows a tip and discovers the van used to kidnap the girl. It belongs to the brother of a hockey player who has a dodgy past.

DCI Burke is openly hostile toward the psychic. However, she is able to lead the team to the body of the victim. Then is at a meeting she publicly discloses information about Burke's father that has never been revealed. When Vorland is shot and wounded in a murder attempt the investigation takes a dramatic turn.

Unfortunately I saw the answer long before it arrived. This is a better than average episode of Taggart. Although it felt like I had been there before.

Taggart: Crossing the Line (2008) Season 24, Episode 10

Jackie buries some ghosts.

[7/10 · 6 December 2009]

When an old mine is excavated to make way for a museum two skeletons are uncovered near household furniture. The two victims are identified as Peter and Helen Buckley, a couple who disappeared 25 years previous at the hight of the miners strike.

The investigation causes DS Jackie Reid to revisit some painful from when she was a youth growing up in the village.

DCI Burke interviews the original investigating officer who dismissed the disappearance as no more than a family escaping bad debts. However, he does recall that the couple had a two week old baby. As the team continue to interview the neighbors they soon realize they are being stone walled by people with something to hide.

Eventually Ross uncovers information that Peter Buckley was labeled a "scab" when he returned to work and came to the attention of a union gang.

This is formula Taggart. It has the usual number of murders as a regular cast member faces his or her demons from the past. The 50 minute time limit does not work for me. I preferred the movie length episodes - but the times are a changing.

Taggart: Homesick (2008) Season 24, Episode 9

Taggart goes Polish.

[8/10 · 28 November 2009]

When Polish security guard Zbigniew 'Ziggy' Lisowski is shot at the building site where he works, DCI Burke and the team are called in to investigate the murder.

Ziggy worked for Livingston Construction, a building company who use Polish immigrant workers on site. Mr Fisher, the site supervisor, proves a difficult customer and ends up in DCI Burke's bad books.

Ross and Reid go to Ziggy's flat to try and find some clues as to who would want to murder him, and they follow a lead to the Kaczynski Polish club. At the club they meet Paula, a Polish immigrant who was helping Ziggy with his English. She is building a case against the building company for exploitation.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city a woman is found dead. The body belongs to receptionist Kate Booth. When Ross and Reid visit Kate's husband, Donald, they discover than she was a Polish immigrant. Could the two murders be connected? The team originally suspect the two victims were involved. However, Ross believes the murders are racially motivated.

Later that night Paula is interviewed by a shock jock. While on air a mystery caller confesses to the murders and promises to continue killing Poles.

While Ross and Burke do their best to try and trace the call and calm Paula, Reid and Fraser are back at Ziggy's flat where they catch someone searching through his things. The interloper, Kristof, is brought in for questioning and it soon becomes clear that he isn't behind the murders – and he reveals that Ziggy was in fact gay. Eventually a DNA examination reveals the two victims were cousins.

This lead and the discovery of the antique gun used in the murder lead to the real murderer. This is a well written episode of Taggart. I didn't see the solution till the very end.

Taggart: Safer (2008) Season 24, Episode 7

Robbie beats up a thug.

[7/10 · 23 November 2009]

After giving a lecture on domestic violence a campaigner is found clubbed to death in an alley way. When the team investigates they discover the class was attended by a single man who gave a false name.

DS Jackie Reid makes contact with Sharon Nash who spent 6 years in prison for the attempted murder of her violent husband. Kevin Nash is now remarried and mistreating his second wife. DI Robbie Ross has a brain snap when he witnesses an altercation and gives Nash a hiding.

Eventually the gentleman who attended the original lecture is found and events unravel to reveal the murderer. This is not formula television and the last 5 minutes left me pleasantly surprised.

This long running series appears to have some steam left in it. John Michie puts in a good performance.

Taggart: Point of Light (2008) Season 24, Episode 6

Taggart and the dead gumshoe.

[8/10 · 14 November 2009]

The episode opens with private detective Andrew MacHendry lying dead at the bottom of a quarry. His baby son is crying distressed in the car. It is a familiar place for suicides but DCI Burke soon realizes it a brutal murder. The team initially suspect the live in girlfriend who has lied about her whereabouts. However, the team investigates MacHendry's last case and a number of leads open up.

Alex Sternwood had employed the PI to find his missing daughter. DC Stuart Fraser breaks open the case by finding the victim's mobile phone in a disused factory.

This episode is a copy of several Hollywood shows. However the acting is quite good and I found myself involved right to the end despite several De Ja Vu moments.

Taggart: A Study in Murder (2008) Season 24, Episode 5

Stuart finds his mother.

[6/10 · 9 November 2009]

Simon Nimmo, a college principal, is found crushed to death in a lift well at work. When Burke and the team investigate it becomes obvious that the murder was committed by someone with a knowledge of mechanics.

At first D.C.I. Burke suspects the wife, Laura Nimmo. However the investigation soon uncovers an affair that the murder victim was having with his P.A. Eventually the team focus their efforts on the boyfriend of Nimmo's daughter and a shocking secret is revealed in the final scene.

Meanwhile D.C. Stuart Fraser is having his own personal crisis. After his adoptive parents passed away he has tracked down his birth mother. She is not overjoyed to be found. The final scene is quite touching as the two story lines merge.

Taggart continues to develop the characters of the main cast in regular sub plots. However, I do wonder how much longer the series can continue. There is talk that it will end in the new year.

Taggart: Trust (2008) Season 24, Episode 4

Taggart and the fiancée

[9/10 · 31 October 2009]

The episode opens with DCI Burke leaving the back door of an escort agent as the Vice Squad perform a routine raid. We then flashback 3 days when the Detective Chief Inspector meets his ex fiancé from an earlier life.

Meanwhile a hit-man is being tortured and murdered which leads the team to investigate a gang war on the streets of Glasgow. Burke comes under increasing pressure from Chief Superintendent Henson who wants to rid the force of the old guard.

Unfortunately Burke's indiscretion causes his suspension while his team of loyal colleagues work to find a link between the murders and an aspiring politician.

This is a pleasant return to form for the long running series. Once again we see that Scottish policemen are unlucky in love and can sometimes find themselves cupid's victim.

Taggart: Island (2008) Season 24, Episode 3

Taggart and the Island murder.

[8/10 · 24 October 2009]

The peace of a beautiful Scottish island is shattered by a brutal murder among standing stones. For Burke and the team, on a rare investigation away from Glasgow, the slaying has all the hallmarks of a ritual killing.

But the unknown victim's corpse has another secret to reveal – a poisonous bite by a tropical South American spider.

As Reid and Ross struggle to get to grips with staying on the island, they begin to piece together bits of the deadly puzzle with the help of the local clergyman Rev Campbell and pub landlady Shona.

Back in the big city, Burke and Fraser's enquiries into the dead man's murky underworld past look like they're heading nowhere fast until drugs squad Detective Sergeant Duggan comes up with some shocking new information.

But the stakes are getting higher. Another islander knows too much and has gone missing.

Soon, Ross and Reid find themselves on an isolated island miles from home, in a race against time to confront not one, but two, ruthless killers.

Taggart: Judgement Day (2008) Season 24, Episode 2

Taggart buries his father.

[7/10 · 17 October 2009]

Murder strikes close to home when Burke's father is found dead in his flat.

What looks like an open-and-shut case of liver failure due to alcoholism turns sinister when it's discovered Andrew Burke died of a heroin overdose. Against police regulations, DCI Burke is determined to head up the team and solve his father's murder.

But the investigation throws up plenty of difficult questions. Is a two hundred thousand pound savings plan motive enough for murder?

And could Andrew's friends Tom Gardner, Theresa Braithwaite and Billy Watson be in danger? The elderly members of Andrew's Lunch Club at the local day centre are only just reeling from the sudden death of their friend Ellen Phillips. Is there a connection to the case?

As Matt Burke struggles to keep his emotions in check, and brotherly tensions threaten to destroy his relationship with John once and for all, another murder raises the team's suspicions about the woman who discovered the body - Angie Hamilton, a volunteer at the day-centre.

And the close connection of GP Marion Vaughn, a former doctor at a Hospice, among the ailing group of old folk, raises a disturbing possibility – are the Lunch Club being targeted?

But as DCI Matt Burke races against time to prevent another death, how will he react when he comes face-to-face with the killer? And how will he handle the cold, chilling truth of his father's death?

Taggart: The Caring Game (2008) Season 24, Episode 8

Recycled Taggart!

[7/10 · 7 November 2008]

Kyra McMartin is found floating in her bath. She has been dead a week. The investigation leads quickly to Allan Pitt, a shady real estate agent. Meanwhile Robbie Ross is having personal problems. His ex wife wants to start over again in Canada with their teen-age son.

During the investigation Stuart discovers a neighbor with form for breaking and entering. He also has a record for violence. Matters become even more complicated when the victim's estranged sister is found to have a friendship with the neighbor.

Sandy McDade makes her third appearance with Taggart. This is one very good actress. Hopefully she will find a permanent spot in a continuing series somewhere. Several other actor are making their second and third appearances also.

Robbie Ross tries to woo his wife back and almost succeeds when she demands he quit his job and join the family in Canada. The case is solved when two charity muggers (chuggers) are discovered referring street kids to the shady real estate agent. This is a welcome return to vintage Taggart. John Mitchie puts in a veteran performance which gives the series hope.

Alex Norton's continuing role as Mr Angry still annoys me.

Taggart: Genesis (2008) Season 24, Episode 1

Taggart and the fertility clinic ... again!

[2/10 · 31 October 2008]

I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am with this episode. It is a carbon copy of the 1994 episode, "Forbidden fruit." In that episode former detective Peter Livingstone discovers a doctor is doing much more than impregnating his clients at a fertility clinic.

In this episode Julie Pierce is thrown from a building on her way to the clinic. The investigation leads the team to a radical clergyman, Rev. George Stanford who is leading a protest against the destruction of unused embryos.

Nurse Kim Whitley is attacked on her way home and the investigation focuses on a disgruntled client who waited 8 years only to be rejected at the last minute.

Eventually the detectives find themselves walking a well worn track to the doctor who has fathered more than his fair share of kids. One happy sideline is the cheeky banter between Jacki and Ross when the two are forced to share a flat.

My only advice to the producers at Taggart. Stop treating us like idiots. It isn't funny.

Taggart: Pinnacle (2007) Season 23, Episode 4

Taggart joins a pyramid scheme.

[8/10 · 24 October 2008]

At last, a brilliant episode of Taggart.

The show opens with a huge (and I mean HUGE!) man jogging through a park. He stumbles on the mutilated body of Tracy Brogan, the CEO of Pinnacle Enterprise.

Initial investigations lead to the estranged husband who does not have an alibi for the night. Frank Harris is also in the frame when he discloses that his mother has been cheated out of her home by Pinnacle Enterprise.

Unfortunately for Jackie, Terry Brogan starts to play on her feelings for her dead husband when he claims to have terminal cancer. In the end a "Rent Boy" provides an alibi for the night in question. But he is not all that he appears to be.

I did not see the answer until the very end. This episode has it all. Blythe Duff puts in an excellent performance. John Mitchie is convincing as Robbie Ross. Glasgow looks good. The story line is convincing and the overall acting is brilliant.

Hopefully Taggart has turned the corner on its recent decline.

Taggart: Tenement (2007) Season 23, Episode 3

Disappointing

[6/10 · 17 October 2008]

I was disappointed with this episode of Taggart. Perhaps the writers have run out of ideas. Or perhaps fans of this long running series are prepared to accept to occasional turkey. Regardless of their reasons the producers have dished up an episode where the bodies keep piling up and when the killer is found it turns out to be a revenge attack on a group of people who committed a crime against a loved one.

Here is how the formula worked this time.

1. An activist is found garroted in her own home. 2. Suspicion turns to a property developer, Charlie McEwan, who wants to tear down the building and put up luxury towers. 3. More people are found murdered with links to the property developer. 4. Meanwhile Ross is investigating a different hit and run accident and falling in love with the victim's sister. 5. Suddenly Burke discovers that the murdered victims have a link to the hit and run accident. 6. At the last moment it turns out that revenge is the motive.

This formula worked the first dozen times it was used. So here is a passionate plea. PLEASE GET YOURSELVES SOME NEW WRITERS!!! The reason I watch this show is because my family is from Scotland. I love the accents, the scenery and the characters. But its time it was given a huge overhaul.

Lorraine McGowan is terribly miscast as the property developer.