The WORST episodes of Taggart
Every episode of Taggart ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst 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 - Skin Deep
Season 17 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/14/2000
When a man is found bleeding to death in a health club and two of the female members claim to have had intimate relationships with him, Reid and Ross uncover a world of health-obsessed women with dark and dangerous secrets. Meanwhile, Robbie Ross becomes the suspect of a corruption inquiry, and Jardine is forced to face up to his own mortality. Will Jardine's team catch the killer before he strikes again?
#2 - Bloodsport
Season 27 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/31/2010
The murder of a boxer leads the team into a murky world of cage fighting, illegal gambling and lap dancing. And Ross's own gambling addiction is exposed
#3 - Island
Season 24 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/27/2008
A mutilated body is discovered on a remote island, and Ross and Reid leave Glasgow to investigate, but find that the inhabitants are wary of outsiders and seem reluctant to assist them. They return to Glasgow with the body, while Burke and Fraser make some headway and manage to connect the victim to a drugs racket in South American. Then another person on the island goes missing, and the team has to consider how much the drug dealing has infiltrated the remote community.
#4 - Funeral Rites
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/9/1987
The discovery of a charred corpse in a disused railway tunnel sets Taggart on the gruesome hunt for a ruthless killer in an investigation with sinister undertones of black magic and voodoo. The wife of an arthritic dentist narrowly escapes a series of murder attempts, adding to a complex case for Taggart and his team.
#5 - Forbidden Fruit
Season 10 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/1/1994
Joan Matheson arrives in Glasgow to be with her daughter who is expecting her first child. However, she reacts very badly when she learns the baby has been conceived by donor insemination. Shortly after she is found murdered and suspicion falls on her son in law whom she blamed and humiliated at a family meeting.
#6 - Fact and Fiction
Season 25 - Episode 5 - Aired 12/24/2009
When a new novel includes the detailed description of a murder the same of that which belongs to an unsolved case, the team start to think the story's writer could of been involved in the murder. Burke tries unsuccessfully to find evidence to link the author to the crime but remains determined to bring him down.
#7 - Judgement Day
Season 24 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/15/2008
Murder strikes close to home for the team when DCI Matt Burke's elderly father is found dead in suspicious circumstances. What appears to be a straightforward case of liver failure takes a sinister turn when it's discovered Andrew Burke died of a heroin overdose. Against police regulations, DCI Burke is determined to solve the case. But then some difficult questions arise - what is the significance of a two hundred thousand pound savings plan? And could Andrew's friends be in danger too?
#8 - Fallen Angels
Season 27 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/24/2010
When three children and their father are found dead in a tenement flat, what initially appears to be an open and shut case becomes something altogether more sinister.
#9 - Mind Over Matter
Season 21 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/3/2005
After the murder of a teenager, DS Reid joins a therapy group undercover to try and find the killer, but as more people are discovered, she realises the case is having an impact on her personal life as well as her professional one and her colleagues aren't making her life any easier. But can DS Reid manage to put all her troubles to one side and with the help of her colleagues, find the killer?
#10 - Cold Blood
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 12/31/1987
A woman shoots her husband dead after discovering that he has been having an affair. DCI Taggart thinks he has the easiest case of his career, however it soon becomes the complete opposite when the post mortem reveals that he was already dead before he was shot, and that his wife could not be responsible.
#11 - 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.
#12 - Double Jeopardy
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 12/30/1988
Feature-length single episode. When the body of Rowena Bain is discovered in a wood, the forensic evidence suggests that Bain committed suicide, just as she was due to move to Germany with her family. DCI Taggart is suspicious, and he soon discovers that the victim's sister thinks that Rowena's husband, Maurice, is responsible for her murder.
#13 - Fearful Lightning
Season 16 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/21/1999
A string of people are murdered by electrocution. All of these people are in some way connected to with a local (and popular) spiritualist, who claims he can speak with the dead. When the Taggart team disbelieve the man's powers, the clairvoyant gives them frighteningly accurate messages from a man very dear to their hearts--Jim Taggart! Meanwhile, the murders begin to pile up, and Taggart team race to find the murderer, this time aided by Jim Taggart himself.
#14 - Blood Money
Season 19 - Episode 3 - Aired 12/28/2002
A boxing promoter is found strangled, and while Ross breaks the news to his widow, Burke and Reid interview the previous night's fighters. The winning boxer, Corbett, turns out to be more than good friends with the widow, and the ringside doctor has attempted to destroy medical files. An old friend of the promoters is also called in and soon more information is found which leads to a chase in order to prevent any further deaths.
#15 - Safer
Season 24 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/3/2008
A campaigner against domestic violence is murdered and the prime suspect is an apparently reformed man whose violent behaviour once drove his ex-wife to almost kill him in self defence. Although the team is able to build a solid case against him, the investigation is put in jeopardy when Ross suffers a moment of madness.
#16 - Homesick
Season 24 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/8/2008
Zbigniew Lisowski, a Polish migrant worker, is found shot at the building site where he worked as a security guard. Hours later, the body of hotel receptionist Kate Booth is discovered - with strikingly similar gunshot wounds. When investigations reveal that Kate - aka Kasia - was also Polish, the team have to consider whether a racially-motivated killer is at large.
#17 - The Caring Game
Season 24 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/14/2008
When the decomposing body of a young woman is discovered in her bath, initial enquiries at her workplace uncover very little. Reid does not warm to her estate agent boss, while Fraser discovers that she was gifting a significant amount of her less-than-generous salary to charity, but why would that make her a murder target? Meanwhile, Ross learns that his estranged wife is planning to emigrate to Canada with his son, and realises he has a tough choice to make between his family and the job he loves.
#18 - Lifeline
Season 24 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/30/2008
When the body of a man is discovered in a garage with the engine of his car still running, it appears at first to be a simple case of suicide. The victim worked as a volunteer at a helpline centre dealing with potential suicide victims, and his wife is adamant her husband would never take his own life.
#19 - 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?
#20 - Law
Season 22 - Episode 8 - Aired 3/22/2006
The murder of a teenage girl leads the team to travelers working at a nearby fairground.
#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.
#22 - So Long Baby
Season 25 - Episode 4 - Aired 7/19/2009
Having clocked off work the night before his holiday, DI Ross finds an abandoned baby gurgling on a doorstep on his walk home. After ringing the doorbell but getting no response, Ross checks round the back only to discover a French window wide open and a dead man lying in a pool of blood. Are the baby and the victim connected? Ross calls in the team to help with the investigation.
#23 - Dead Man's Chest
Season 13 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/19/1996
A 15-year-old gold bullion robbery leads DI Jardine and the team on a race against time as one by one the robbers are murdered. With pirates, treasure chests and secret maps to buried treasure muddying the waters, will the team be able to solve the murders and find the lost treasure before the last robber is murdered and buried with his secrets?
#24 - Root Of Evil
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/28/1988
Taggart and Jardine investigate when someone starts bumping off Glasgow's loan sharks.
#25 - Prayer for the Dead
Season 11 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/11/1995
Supt McVitie is taken to hospital with a heart attack after a heated argument with Taggart. His wife reacts very badly to Taggart's temporary promotion to Acting Superintendent, and takes it out on the whole team. Meanwhile, Reid and Jardine begin investigating the death of drug addict, Scott Graham, who fell from a balcony during a drug fueled party.