McCallum

The series is centered on Forensic Pathologist Dr Iain McCallum (John Hannah) who is a Scot working in London. He works on a team that is suitably quirky and dysfunctional but is also a very tight knit group. He drives a motorcycle, tangles with authority and has a somewhat tumultuous relationship life with his live-in girlfriend Joanna (Suzanna Hamilton). The stories are centered on criminal cases investigated by the Forensics and Pathology team working with the police.

The strengths of the series include a solid cast and some very interesting characters, of particular note is John Hannah probably best known for playing Jonathan in The Mummy and its sequels. The series also make very good use of the London locations, focusing mostly on the more rundown and disreputable areas. The morgue/forensics laboratory is appropriately dark and dingy, far removed from the hi-tech antiseptic look of most American procedurals.

The weaknesses as I see them seem to have to do with focus or direction of the series; it seems at times to want to concentrate on the cases and at other times on the character development and unfortunately for the most part it doesn't adequately service either. For me the cases also rely far too heavily on coincidence to connect McCallum closely with them. Less of a problem are the more typical complaints seen in procedurals, McCallum is involved in a great many criminal investigations and the police with whom he works seem to be constantly one step behind our hero.

One minor quibble in that some of the incidental music does not appear to be original, some of it sounds distinctly like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The series ran for nine episodes over two seasons

The first couple of episodes were pretty good, but things went down hill from there. McCallum's personal life became the focus rather than being a background element. I wonder if they didn't change writers: the plots became implausible. The pacing was slow. They appear to have tried to stretch material that suited a one hr. show into 1.5 hrs. Midway through the second season we abandoned the show. My wife and I wouldn't recommend it. There is no way that this show deserves the high rating that it has on IMDB.

I love this (all too short) series. I also enjoyed John Hannah in the few episodes he did of the 'Rebus' series. He was a probably a bit too young for that role ( I expected an older heavier kind of presence, one with more 'rough gravitas'). No matter, I really enjoy all his work, and that universally admired Scots accent is a big contributing factor. It's interesting that this is a role that has as the main characters a Scot(John Hannah) and and Irish lady (Zara Turner),with the whole show set in London! I suspect that the accents add a great of appeal to the show (and probably prompt a good deal of rewinding of some scenes to catch the meaning for many North Americans). This note is actually a query,because the opening theme music is a lovely guitar sequence, but I can't find out any more than that except that the music appears to be written by 'Daemion Barry'. Yes, but who played the theme tune? It's very evocative of an Eric Clapton style, but I'd love to find the actual recording of this tune. Any info welcome.

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.

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.