Taggart

When it was first broadcast all those years ago in 1983, as a mini-series named Killer, Glasgow was very much a city of ship building, heavy engineering and manufacturing - most of which for various reasons was in terminal decline.

Killer caught the character of that city that is now long gone - the cranes, dingy streets, sawdust pubs, old tenements and schemes - and that's been the one constant in Taggart. The evolving face of the city of Glasgow...and it's implicable, unchanging, nature.

The late Mark McManus - in a first rate performance - perfectly eptimisoed the lead character and his city - hard drinking, hard bitten, tough and laconic; yet possessing a dry humour, savviness and a very real decency. In his obituary McManus was described as a sensitive, intelligent man a world away from the character - and as fondly regarded as he was by many Glaswegians, fame did not come easily to McManus. Very sadly, his association with the role led to some verbal abuse and physical harassment. Towards the end of his life he went through a series of difficult breavements.

The other lead player was always Glasgow. It's fascinating watching the evolution of Glasgow over the course of each season. Perhaps my favourite episode was 'Root of Evil' set against the backdrop of debt collectors, Morningside (in Edinburgh) and the immensely popular but now almost forgotten 1988 Garden Festival. It was great stuff...as was 'Evil Eye', ' Flesh and Blood', 'Double Jeopardy' and 'Hostile Witness'.

Also noteworthy was the guest appearances and cameos. Alan Cumming, Robert Carlyle, Diane Keen, John Hannah, Jill Gascoigne and Celia Imrie - very striking as a gangster's moll - all made welcome appearances.

Taggart was more than just a hard copper. Inspired from Glasgow's literature, particularly William McIlvanney's subtle, underrated Laidlaw series - another detective with many of Taggart's characteristics. Any coincidence that the theme song was 'No Mean City'?

In short the McManus era is definitely a worthwhile watch. It's currently playing on UK Drama - I certainly catch it when I can.

The complete Taggart series, every single episode including all the the post-Mark McManus episodes, is currently (2022) available for streaming in the U. S. on Britbox. I've been working my way through the series and, you know what, this may be not only my favorite cop series, it may be my favorite TV series full stop.

Why do I like it so much? I love the gritty cinema-verite settings in Glasgow, the wonderful accents (you might want to turn on the optional English subtitles), the intriguing characters, the sardonic humor, the teriffic music and theme song. But what I love most of all is the writing. Glenn Chandler's scripts are exceptional - movie length twisty-turny mysteries filled with red herrings and unexpected plot shifts, and usually leading to a payoff you didn't see coming. Later scripts by other writers mostly conformed to Chandler's unique style.

The crusty title character played by Mark McManus was in the first 28 or so feature-length episodes (they were originally shown in three parts). After McManus died of a pickled liver at age 54 (in the series, he just "died in his sleep"), his assistants Mike and Jackie became the central characters but the format remained much the same for several more years. I actually think many of the Mike and Jackie episodes compare favorably with the best Jim Taggart episodes - for example, Season 14 Ep3 Dead Reckoning is one of the very best episodes in the entire series, imo.

Eventually the series went to a shorter episode format and had an ensemble cast of four, with Jackie (Blythe Duff) being the only holdover from the early series. These episodes are not quite at the level of the early ones, imo, but are still mostly fine police drama.

If you don't get Britbox, do yourself a favor and sign up for this 7 buck a month service (half the cost of Netflix) which includes almost every classic British cop/detective show from the 1970s on, and lots of other good stuff besides. I don't miss Netflix a bit. In addition to Taggart, you can enjoy the complete Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Prime Suspect, Dalziel and Pascoe, Jonathan Creek, Cracker, and much more.

"Search that hoose!"

My wife and I recently watched all 11 seasons on Amazon and really liked it. McManas is great as DCI Taggart. The show keeps you guessing until the end of each episode. My wife and I often pick a minor background character as the murderer, which turns out to be correct. It deserves better than its 7.2 rating. We gave it an 8.0, but would like to give it a 7.5. We think the low rating is due to most episodes being over 2 hrs. long and sometimes slow-moving

Probably the best detective-show in the world, it is even better than "Rejseholdet". The very best thing about Taggart is probably that you never know who the criminal is until 5 minutes before the credits, so it is intensely thrilling to the very last minute. Another remarkable feature is the constant focus on the personality of the men and women of the Maryhill police, they never end up as boring detective-robots, the show even allows their personal troubles to play a part in the plot. Another thing I like about Taggart is the way that twice (in the parts, I've watched) they borrow the outlines of another story - ex. Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson. It adds a unique taste to the plot and makes you wonder, whether the Taggart-plot will end similar to the plot in the other story, but it never does. Finally I just have to emphasize the unique dialect spoken in the show. It is FANTASTIC!!

Over the years, I've grown weary for the depressing drudge that British television companies churn out and have turned to American imports for entertainment. However, never once have I tired of watching a 'Taggart' episode as it's a show that's never been less that great.

Set in Glasgow, the shows sees Maryhill CID investigating the various homicide cases that cross their desks. The team was initially headed by DCI Jim Taggart (played by Mark McManus) with Mike Jardine and Jackie Reid as his underlings but, after McManus' death in 1994, Jardine took command which, in turn, passed onto DCI Matt Burke whose character is much like an incarnate of Taggart.

'Taggart' excels because the story lines are intriguing, continually leaving viewers guessing over the murderer's identity right to the end of the episode, and the characters are solid and engaging without unnecessarily delving deep into their personal lives (many detective and medical shows have been ruined by focusing too much on the characters' love lives and their sad, pathetic childhoods). There is also the dry Glasgow wit that provides an injection of humour to the show as, after all, there can't be many programmes out there where people are referred to as 'tinkies', 'baldie' or 'deid'! It's no surprise this is Britain's longest-running detective show and it's the strength of 'Taggart' that saw it survive after Mark McManus' death and, subsequently, the death of the title character. Long may it continue!