McCallum

I started watching McCallum via streaming so - many years after its original broadcast. These medical mysteries made in the early days of DNA analysis kept me engaged but I had problems with the show. (My husband refused to watch after one episode but I kept going.) In the first episode, the boy-coroner behaves like a teen while everyone else acts grown up but in the next, McCallum takes command of these same adults who behave like kids. Also (1) the pleasant theme song leads me to think the show is about a happy-go-lucky country veterinarian rather than a serious, touchy, horny medical examiner who vies with everyone in The Big City (2) McCallum zooms around the mean night streets on a motorcycle that doesn't seem suited to his demanding, high stakes, gloom-and-doom medical job (3) McCallum imagery is relentlessly dark and dingy - the graveyard shift explores unexplained deaths in dreary settings: dirty alleyways, shadowy exam rooms, cramped walk-ups, filthy windows, greasy drizzle falling on inky alleyways - then, after work, it's off to dark, noisy pubs to get falling-down drunk - yuk (4) the character Joanna spends too much time curled up on a sofa pouting, more like a plot device than a flesh-and-blood woman - so helpless she waits for the hard-driving McCallum to arrive on his motorcycle laden with groceries to feed her, as if she were his pet cat (5) I actually cringe to see the ill-tempered detective who, rather than speaking in normal tones must always snarl, bark and scowl, demanding impossibly fast results from everyone amid gruesome crime scenes, tenement hallways, morgues and police HQs. I can see why the show had so few episodes. A shame, really, because it does have its strong points: intricate plots, Fuzzy the scientist, the beautiful doctor Angela, McCallum's flashes of brilliance, exciting conclusions (though they do seem rushed with breathless explanations and sudden closing credits). I came to like John Hannah very much - a good actor - and plan to see his other appearances.

As with some of the best films and series, I stumbled across this quite by accident. It was late, a storm was in full force outside and I was sitting comfortably on the sofa when I flicked past a channel that was just about to show one of the episodes. I intended merely to watch a couple of minutes while waiting for the commercials to be finished on another channel before switching back to some or other sitcom. About an hour and a half later I remembered my resolve and was so happy that I hadn't done that. Needless to say I made sure I saw all the other episodes.

John Hannah has been brilliant in almost everything I have seen him in and he does not let down here either. All other cast members do a stellar job too. My personal favourite (aside from John Hannah, of course) is Gerard Murphy.

The only negative side to this series are the limited amount of episodes. Only 8 with JH himself and an additional 1 with someone else. I would love to see McCallum back on the screens, though it would have to be with JH!

I love this series, my only complaint being the brevity of it. I would have liked to see more episodes with this fine ensemble cast, led by John Hannah. The opening credits with the beautiful aerial views of London are stunning. I was prompted to write this to correct what is misleading in the Trivia paragraph about this show. It most definitely is set in London and not my beloved Edinburgh.

I like the series but have always wondered if Brits can recognise accents.

They keep indicating that Zara Truner's character is from Dublin. Now, there is no way that you can miss her Belfast accent, so why bother? Just doesn't make sense.

What a shame this series was cancelled after just two short seasons. While the US seems to run good television series into the ground long after they should have been cancelled, the British seem to do the opposite. I really would have liked to see a third series at the very least.

The story lines were inventive, edgy and gripping. The acting excellent. The characters believable and I was always left looking forward to the next episodes.

From what I read on the net when my curiosity about why it was cancelled took me to Google, I'm not the only one who is disappointed by the cancellation after only nine episodes. But I've yet to find an answer to my question: Why was it cancelled?