Taggart

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!!

Taggart is definitely the best of these British murder mystery police shows. Inspector Morse is good, but Taggart takes the cake due to its huge body count and fantastic Scottish accents. The body count is the major thing lacking in series like Morse and the woeful Inspector Wexford. With Taggart, we are barely given a chance to come up with a suspect for one murder and suddenly someone else has copped it and throws a spanner in the works. Excellent show.

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

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.

It's several years now since Taggart ended, and it's still a great watch. It spanned many years, and had different phases, in my opinion the early years with Mark McManus were the best, the dark, gritty writing, coupled with the charisma of the original Detective are a winning combination. I enjoyed the later years also, but wish they'd stuck with the longer running times, the character development in the earlier years was tremendous.

Some wonderful episodes over the years, my personal favourite Death Call had all of the elements, drama, crazed killers and a complex story, but there were many classics, Nest of Vipers, A Death Foretold and Gingerbread, I could go on, there were many.

Many wonderful guest and regular performances over the years, Blythe Duff shone over the years, she was the glue that held it all together, when she was given great material she performed amazingly.

It did seem to end at the right time, the last series was poor, particularly when compared to episodes from the show's glory years. I think it's still the longest running Detective series, will Midsomer Murders overtake it?

I love the accents, landscapes and views of Scotland.

Excellent series 9/10