Crime drama series McCallum portrayed the convincing accounts of a forensic pathologist and all the lives – and deaths – around him. But beyond the mysteries that unfold on the cold steel slab, Dr. Iain McCallum (John Hannah) is a man in the midst of crises – puzzling post-mortems, troubled souls, torn-apart families, and never-perfect relationships, such as the one he shares with on-and-off-again lover Joanna Sparks (Suzanna Hamilton).
Dr. McCallum, unlike most doctors, doesn’t make his living saving lives. Rather, his job is to find out how, and why, a life has ended. “Death tells us about the life that preceded it,” McCallum says. From deep within the morgue at St. Patrick’s Hospital in London’s East End, he and Dr. Angela Moloney (Zara Turner, Sir Paddy Penfold (Richard Moore), Fuzzy Brightons (James Saxon, and Bobby Sykes (Richard O’Callaghan) help the dead tell their stories, alongside the police team of DI Bracken (Gerard Murphy) and DC Small (Alex Walkinshaw). Together, the eclectic team proves that while it may be too late for a cure, it’s not too late to solve the puzzle, and right a wrong, before another body turns up on the table.
McCallum and his team share a passion for the truth, but often finding that truth sets them on a mission fraught with danger. When the violated body of a banker washes ashore, the team comes face-to-face with fraud, brutality, and deception. A volatile serial poisoner is on the loose, and the investigation unravels a maniacal motive that strikes too close for comfort. When a baker is found dead inside his shop, his wife alleges suicide – but clues on his body contradict her tale. And the baffling death of a young prostitute leads the team down a harrowing path to a horrifying discovery.
After the first two seasons John Hannah, whose star was rising quite significantly decided he didn’t want to commit to any further episodes, Scottish TV decided to see if they could carry on without him in so in came pretty much a new cast with Nathaniel Park as Dr Dan Gallagher and Eva Pope as Dr Charley Fielding. After one feature length episode that was it for the new incarnation of McCallum.
The series began as a one off TV movie broadcast 28 December 1995 before a full series arrived 13 January 1997. This 6 part series was made up of three two part stories, a second season began on 30 December 1997. This was made up of 6 hour long episodes and one two hour episode.
Cast: John Hannah as Doctor Iain McCallum; Suzanna Hamilton as Joanna Sparks; Gerard Murphy as Detective Inspector Bracken; Zara Turner as Doctor Angela Moloney; James Saxon as Fuzzy Brightons; Richard O’Callaghan as Bobby Sykes; Jane Lapotaire as Miriam Konrad; Hugo Speer as Doctor Aidan Petit; Alex Walkinshaw as Detective Constable Small; Richard Moore as Sir Paddy Penfold; Nathaniel Parker as Dr Dan Gallagher (1998); Eva Pope as Dr Charley Fielding (1998);
Producer: Murray Ferguson (all except the final episode which was produced by Robert Banks Stewart).
UK / ITV – ScottishTV / 13×60 minutes 2×100 minutes / 1995-98
