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->''"There's been a murder"''.

A [[LongRunner long-running]] [[BritishSeries British]] detective series, running from 1983 to 2011 (Creator/{{ITV}} have withdrawn their funding and until/unless STV can get a replacement backer, we have to call this show cancelled).

Set in Glasgow, UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}}, it had a very bad case of NeverOneMurder. The series was named after its original main character, Jim Taggart, who was [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim killed off due to the death]] of Mark [=McManus=], who portrayed him. Rather surprisingly, the show carried on longer ''without'' him than it did when he was alive.

According to Website/TheOtherWiki, the show is frequently summed up by saying "murder" in a very strong Glaswegian accent (e.g. a parody in ''Series/TheFastShow'' consisted entirely of policemen standing around a corpse and saying "He's deeed, he's bin mudded!").

Like ''Series/TheBill'' for Britain as a whole, every Scottish actor worth their salt has had a role on this show at some point. Except for, of all people, Creator/DavidTennant, who failed the audition fourteen times.

Not to be confused with [[Literature/AtlasShrugged Dagny or James Taggart]], nor with [[VideoGame/WingCommander yet another James Taggart]].

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!!This show provides examples of:
* ArtifactTitle: Jim Taggart no longer appears in the show, due to actor Mark [=McManus=]' death.
* AscendedExtra: James [=MacPherson=] had a brief appearance as a young DC Mike Jardine in "The Killing Philosophy", before becoming Taggart's assistant for the rest of the Mark [=McManus=] episodes following the departure of Neil Duncan as DS Peter Livingstone. After Mark [=McManus=] died, Jardine got promoted to DCI and became the main character for the next few years.
* AutopsySnackTime: One of the coroners tends to do this.
* BeneathSuspicion
* BerserkButton: Occasionally Taggart or his colleagues will break a rule or two in order to pin a suspect or two. However, woe betide anyone who rigs evidence in one of his investigations, as DS Kenny Forfar discovered in "Death Call" after burning a receipt which would have exonerated a suspect. When Forfar confessed all, Taggart furiously threw Forfar out of his office and out of the force. When Forfar reappeared as a private detective in the following series in the story "Funeral Rites", it's clear that there is still hostility between the former colleagues.
* BritishBrevity: 100 episodes in 25 years. ''[=Taggart=]'' episodes are kind of like buses. [[{{Metaphorgotten}} Buses that are twice as long as normal shows, mind]]. A single 'episode' was normally 2-4 hours in the days before it was serialised down to an hour.
* TheBusCameBack: Taggart's original sidekick Peter Livingston made a one-off return in the 1993 episode "Forbidden Fruit".
* CleanFoodPoisonedFork: In one series a serial killer uses snake venom to poison his victims, and in a scene near the end of the series, it's revealed that he administers the poison by sharing a meal with the victim and poisoning the victim's spoon.
* DetectiveDrama: The early episodes centred around Taggart and his sidekick but as the series progressed more characters were added until it was almost an ensemble piece.
* ExpositionVictim: in "Forbidden Fruit"
* LeadPoliceDetective: Jim Taggart (Mark [=McManus=]), to begin with. When he died, his sidekick Mike Jardine (James [=MacPherson=]) gained a promotion to Detective Inspector and to the lead role. Subsequently, he died too and was succeeded by a new character, DCI Matt Burke (Alex Norton), who saw out the show's last decade.
* NeverOneMurder
* NeverSuicide: Averted in [[spoiler:"Double Jeopardy"]].
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Matt Burke is a tough, old school and uncompromising policeman much like Jim Taggart was.
* ThematicThemeTune: "No Mean City".
* VideoInsideFilmOutside: For the ''Killer'' pilot and the first two series. Shot entirely on film from the third series onwards.
* ViolentGlaswegian: Only often more calculating than usual.
* WholePlotReference: The episode 'Gingerbread' was a modern retelling of 'Hansel and Gretel'
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