The BEST episodes of Taggart
Every episode of Taggart ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Taggart!
In the early eighties, Robert Love, Controller of Drama at Scottish Television, and Glenn Chandler, pathologist turned writer, created a Glaswegian police detective named Jim Taggart. A creation which resulted in a world-wide successful television drama that has lasted for over twenty years. With over eighty episodes currently in the can the series, which follows the exploits of Maryhill CID, continues to win over viewers old and new despite major changes in the cast which caused most in the business to write it off. Since the pilot episode "Killer", the only installment to not carry the trade mark name, to the most recently aired episode, the show has presented more grizzly murders and plot twists than even the most ardent of fans can remember. Its film noir quality along with the stunning setting of Glasgow, the second city of the empire, that helps it remain a success even after all these years. The excellent cast, both present and past, have provided characters which have become much loved and remain in the hearts of fans even after their departure. This guide is dedicated to the memories of Mark McManus, Iain Anders, Robert Robertson, and Tom Watson. Taggart is now 20 years old becoming the longest running police drama on television the show is still as popular as it was when Mark McManus was at the helm. Taggart is made by SMG Productions and broadcast on the ITV network over the UK.
#1 - Watertight
Season 18 - Episode 3 - Aired 7/8/2002
The discovery of the body of an underage prostitute causes Ross to go after a long time nemesis with renewed vigour. This decision sets into motion a chain of events which not only puts the Inspectors career in jeopardy but also numerous lives.
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#3 - Running Out Of Time
Season 22 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/4/2005
Burke is shot whilst taking a break from work, and on the same day, another fraud squad detective's body is found by a colleague. When both victims' properties are searched, large amounts of cash are found, leading to fears of bribery. With Burke's reputation and life on the line, the race is on to find the perpetrator.
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#4 - Puppet on a String
Season 21 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/6/2005
Dr. Mellor is attacked by a masked assailant carrying a syringe full of lethal drugs. Dr Mellor points the finger at rival doctor Thomas Finn, but Finn has an alibi. Dr Mellor is found dead the next day. Finn again has a cast-iron alibi.
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#6 - The Friday Event
Season 18 - Episode 4 - Aired 7/15/2002
A student dies when he falls from a roof at a top Glasgow school and a journalist reveals that the death is drugs related. But then the journalist is found dead. He's been having an affair with the paper's editor who becomes chief suspect. When another student dies however, the Strathclyde team discover that a psychopath is on the loose, and he's been under their noses all the time.
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#8 - Out of Bounds
Season 14 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/1/1998
When a sixty-year-old skeleton is found in the grounds of an exclusive boys school and is linked to the disappearance of a school master in 1939 Jardine's team suddenly find themselves not only investigating the pre-war case but the murder of the master's successor. The 'old boys' network closes ranks but when another master is murdered the team are faced with digging deep into the past to solve this one.
#9 - Pinnacle
Season 23 - Episode 4 - Aired 7/4/2007
When Terry Brogan, an alcoholic cancer sufferer, is accused of bludgeoning his wife to death, D.S. Reid finds it difficult to believe that he is guilty of murder, and she sets out to prove his innocence - despite compelling evidence to the contrary. But as the net closes in on the murderer, her irrational sympathy threatens to jeopardise the whole case.
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#10 - Users and Losers
Season 23 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/3/2007
A gambler is found dead, and it is discovered that he had thousands of pounds stashed in his flat, leading the team to suspect that he was part of an illegal betting scam. The wife of the owner then gets killed out riding and the investigation heats up further. Meanwhile, Burke is convinced that a former heroin addict and petty criminal has changed, until he is left with a decision to either arrest a killer or do a deal to catch a more major criminal.
Watch Now:Amazon#11 - Nest of Vipers
Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/9/1992
The discovery of two skulls at the site for a new by-pass road leads the team to a pharmaceutical company. Someone doesn't want the skulls identified and will go to any length including murder.
#12 - Long Time Dead
Season 15 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/1/1998
When a murder occurs at a hotel during a dinner for the police force, the hunt is on for the killer. When the husband of one of the hotel employees is also murdered the team begin to wonder what the killings have to do with something dark that is going on at the hospital?
#14 - The Thirteenth Step
Season 23 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/17/2007
Ex-con Eddie Monroe is found stabbed in a Govan alleyway. Burke meets Angus Ford - a retired police officer who was responsible for Monroe's arrest and subsequent convictions - who remains adamant that Monroe was a bad man who deserved to die. But who was his killer? All roads keep leading back to old acquaintance Daniel Tulloch and his family. In the course of uncovering the truth Burke is forced to face some demons of his own.
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#15 - Atonement
Season 20 - Episode 2 - Aired 12/3/2003
When Billy McCree is found dead in his workshop with his severed hand by his side, recently-released prisoner Jim Naysmith is the prime suspect for his murder - as the dead man's testimony had put Naysmith behind bars twenty years before. While Burke and Reid investigate another member of Naysmith's gang, Ross is flattered when law student Mary Cullen asks to shadow him, but Gemma becomes suspicious of Mary's motives.
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#16 - Penthouse and Pavement
Season 20 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/7/2003
The months since Taggart's last outing have done nothing for DCI Burke's temper or his people skills. He's still a gruff so-and-so who shouts far more than is really necessary. Soon, though, he and his loyal detectives unearth some nasty goings-on. A famous horror novelist is found murdered in an alley the morning after a prestigious book launch. While attempting to quell the ensuing media frenzy, Burke and the team start to piece together the author's last movements, but initally their only lead is a drugged and confused prostitute with a memory problem. Soon evidence emerges that disputes the author's image as an upstanding citizen.
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#17 - Hard Man
Season 19 - Episode 1 - Aired 12/14/2002
DCI Burke and the team are called in to investigate the discovery of a mangled body in what appears to be an industrial accident at a Clyde shipyard. But when it is revealed that the victim was already dead before the accident, Burke finds himself dealing with a murder.
Watch Now:Amazon#18 - Hostile Witness
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/1/1990
A far-right political party seeking the return of capital punishment are embroiled in a series of murders during a by-election campaign, in which both the candidate and her agent become victims of the killer. DCI Taggart is pressed for a quick result, with strong media interest in the case and Supt. McVitie strapped for manpower.
#19 - Violent Delights
Season 7 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/1/1992
When a sixth form student who is spying on his French teacher becomes the prime witness to her husband's murder, DCI Taggart, newly promoted DC Jackie Reid and DS Jardine have no choice but to exhume an entire graveyard when the prime suspect - an undertaker - refuses to let on where he has buried the parts of his mutilated body. Unfortunately, one of the deceased includes Jean Taggart's Aunt Hettie (much despised by Jim) - who also passes away in the episode and inconveniently interred by the same undertaker.
#20 - Grass
Season 25 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/30/2009
DI Robbie Ross starts to feel the heat when Thomas Duffy, one of his informants, is brutally murdered, and the word 'grass' daubed in paint at the crime scene. Duffy's name appeared in Ross's contact book - which was stolen by a woman Ross took home with him. Ross knows he must speak up, but before he does, another name from the book turns up dead. Can he solve the case before his career becomes the next casualty?
#21 - Point of Light
Season 24 - Episode 6 - Aired 6/5/2008
The body of a private investigator is discovered at the bottom of a local quarry. After learning from the victim's fiancee that he was working on the case of a missing woman, and had claimed to have found her, the team become convinced his investigation is the key to solving the murder.
Watch Now:Amazon#22 - The Best and the Brightest
Season 22 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/29/2006
When a research student is found dead in a university science lab following a severe anaphylactic shock, the evidence suggests that her food has been deliberately contaminated. Traces of highly concentrated nut oil are found at the scene, but there seems to be no clear motive for her murder. Then another student dies in a suspicious accident the following day and Burke and the team realise that a calculating killer is at work within the university.
Watch Now:Amazon#24 - A Taste Of Money
Season 22 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/23/2005
An unpopular restaurant critic is found murdered in his kitchen, and a petty thief linked to the crime scene becomes the prime suspect. But it soon turns out that he had a secret life - and that the killer has only just started.
Watch Now:Amazon#25 - Crossing the Line
Season 24 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/15/2008
Preparations are underway for a new museum in the former mining community of Garsden on the outskirts of Glasgow. The museum will be on the site of a long disused coal mine, closed twenty five years before, just before the miners' strike. But when the shaft is opened up, two skeletons are found - a man and a woman in the same position as they died a quarter of a century earlier. Were they buried alive? Who are they? How did they get there - and were they murdered?
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