Taggart - History

History

The Scottish BAFTA-winning pilot episode, "Killer", broadcast in 1983, directed by Laurence Moody, introduced the character of Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Jim Taggart (played by Mark McManus until his death in 1994), a tough and experienced detective who had worked his way up through the ranks. His original sidekick was Detective Sergeant (DS) Peter Livingstone (Neil Duncan). Livingstone represented the new breed of young graduates entering the police force, and frequently had a difficult relationship with Taggart as a result. Taggart's boss in the pilot was Superintendent Robert Murray (Tom Watson), known as "The Mint" after the well-known sweet. This humour was continued in the subsequent series with Taggart's boss replaced after the second episode ("Dead Ringer") by Superintendent Jack McVitie (Iain Anders), nicknamed "The Biscuit" because he shared his name with a popular brand of biscuits. Another important character was Taggart's long-suffering, wheelchair-bound wife Jean (Harriet Buchan) whose disability did not prevent her from pursuing a number of interests in life, while her cynical husband stuck mainly to his job.

In 1987 the character of Mike Jardine (James MacPherson) was introduced, and when Neil Duncan left the series in 1989, a new female sidekick, Jackie Reid (Blythe Duff) was introduced.

McManus died in 1994 in the middle of filming an episode. His absence was explained by the claim that Taggart was in constant meetings with the Chief Constable. The 1995 episode "Black Orchid" opened with Taggart's funeral but, unusually, despite the death of the title character, the series continued with Jardine being promoted to Detective Inspector and DC Stuart Fraser (Colin McCredie) was introduced, becoming the long-suffering sidekick to Jardine, former long-suffering sidekick to Taggart. Fraser was later revealed to be gay. DI Robbie Ross (John Michie) joined the team in 1998 (Michie had made an early appearance in Taggart in 1990, when he played a suspect called Robby Meiklejohn in an episode called "Love Knot").

When MacPherson left the series in 2002, his character was killed off, and replaced with DCI Matt Burke, formerly of Special Branch (played by Alex Norton who had previously appeared in the series playing a murder suspect in the 1986 episode, "Knife Edge"). Alex Norton's Matt Burke character has gained widespread critical acclaim, many believing him to be the first credible successor to McManus's original Taggart character.

Much was made of the platonic relationship between Jardine and Reid, with the two being shown to share a brother/sister-like bond. Both pursued a number of relationships with other characters over the years. Reid even got married, but later separated from her husband, who is now dead. The personal relationships of the police officers in this series are shown as nothing to be envious of; Reid once describing herself, Burke, Ross and Fraser as three divorcees and a celibate homosexual (episode "Penthouse and Pavement").

After completing filming of series 26 in December 2009 Colin McCredie was informed that he and his character would not be returning for filming of the next series.