Taggart (TV Series) A Death Foretold (2005) User Reviews

Taggart goes to church.

[bethwilliam · 7/10 · 5 March 2008]

Father Michael Gow is hearing confession when he is told about a murder that is yet to happen. The following morning Ryan Petrie, a student, is found in a lane with a stab wound to the kidney. A large quantity of drugs on the body suggests he was supplying.

DS Jackie Reid has become withdrawn from the team as she attends the hospice where her ex husband is dying of cancer. She is grief stricken and feeling guilty that she left him to pursue her own career.

Fiona Marshall is found stabbed in her office with the same M.O. as the first victim. Her mother reports that someone has been watching the house. When police investigate they find the symbols XXXXIV carved in the tree. The same markings are present at the first two murders.

As Burke struggles to find a connection between the victims Jacki tries to find solace in the church. While interviewing the Monsignor she discovers the symbols represent a passage in the Bible. It is a quote from ¨The Good Samaratin.¨ - And they passed by on the other side.

The team soon learns that all the victims were present when a young girl, Angela Robertson, was stabbed two years previous on Hogmanay. Her boyfriend, Martin Kierney, is the first victimś flatmate. This news does not come in time to save Stephen Imrie, a painter, from being murdered and his lifeś work destroyed.

This is a very good episode of Taggart. Blythe Duff shines as the grief stricken ex wife. However, my only complaint is that the episode follows a well worn path that we have seen too many times before. A series of murders have a common link to a past crime where a survivor is exacting his revenge of people he believes have injured him. In this case it is the witnesses who did nothing to help a dying girl.

Utterly Brilliant

[Sleepin_Dragon · 10/10 · 1 May 2008]

This really is for me The single best episode of Taggart, this one stands out amongst the rest and really raised the bar, unsurprisingly ratings and viewing figures here were excellent. Arguably Blythe Duffs best showing as Jackie, it is her basically that makes this show, her acting is utterly first class, her scenes with her on screen ex husband are truly wonderfully acted, showing that given a good script and some insight into her character she could (and does) perform magnificently. Another strong performance comes from the stunning Sarah Stewart, who gives an equally brilliant performance as Yvonne Petrie. This story is just a little different from all the other Taggarts, it felt more imaginative and better thought out then just the usual brutal killings. 10 out of 10 for everything, ENJOY :-)

Blythe Duff steals the show.

[MotormouthOnLegz · 10/10 · 7 December 2019]

As Blythe Duff showed time after time (when given the right material) she really is an amazing actress. The one constant in Taggart who for many years guided the show through many big changes and as the years passed, the many layers of Jackie Reid were revealed in some very powerful scenes. Since the death of Mike Jardine we have seen Jackie become a much deeper, darker character and the show is much better for it. Funny, poignant, melancholy, sadness, joy and serious down to business policing - Blythe Duff gave us all that and much more in Taggart. Such a shame you never see Ms Duff on our screens anymore. That said, yes this episode is not the best whodunnit in the history of Taggart but Blythe's performance more than makes up for it. Typical for Series 22, this episode is dragged down by the awful incidental music. Still deserves a 10 out of 10 for the stunning performance given by Blythe Duff.

Prediction murder

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 29 December 2020]

Have loved 'Taggart' (another show gotten into during my teenage years) for a long time, although the more deliberate and even grittier Taggart and Jardine periods to me are superior to Burke's. Although it was actually through watching the late afternoon reruns of the Burke period episodes (starting from "Compensation" right up to when the episodes became shorter (too short in my mind) at one point that got me hooked, the Taggart and Jardine episodes were actually seen a lot later.

"A Death Foretold" became one of my favourite 'Taggart' episodes very quickly, and it is not down to nostalgia at all from it being one of my first episodes watched. It still is one of my favourites. Almost everything works here in a great and powerful episode that is a prime example of why Jackie (put in the spotlight) has always been one of 'Taggart's' best characters. Other episodes may have shocked me more in terms of perpetrator identities, but "A Death Foretold" is one of the episodes of the show to bring tears to my eyes every time.

It is made with a lot of grit and atmosphere, as well as a slick style, that fits the gritty tone of the show very well. The scenery once again is both beautiful and uncompromising. Personally disagree with the complaint regarding the music, this was around the time when the scoring did start to become intrusive and not always fitting, but to me it fitted well in "A Death Foretold" with the more understated tone in some places a good match for the emotional parts.

With the writing, "A Death Foretold" pulls no punches while having lots of intrigue and emotion. Not much humour here this time but that was not a problem. The story was great, the identity of the murderer was not a shock (my only complaint of the episode has always been that they are suspectable too prematurely) but the motive was not foreseeable and neither was the inventive brutality of the killings. What made it special was Jackie's subplot, never in the history of 'Taggart' was there a more poignant subplot (the latter stages are heart-breaking) and it was done without being too sentimental or dominating the case too much.

Despite Jackie, at her darkest and most interesting, the team are hardly underused and work very well together. Did find Burke too unsympathetic towards Jackie on first watch, but on re-watches it becomes more understandable as to why he comes over that way (unlike his earlier episodes he doesn't behave as too much of a bully towards her here). The climax has tension and the case is twisty enough without being convoluted. The acting is extremely good, with Blythe Duff being superb in perhaps her best performance, one that has always moved me to tears, of the show.

Concluding, wonderful and a favourite. 9/10

Not as great an episode as some make out......

[gilso68 · 2/10 · 14 January 2018]

I've watched this episode several times & apart from the powerhouse performance by the stunning Blythe Duff the plot is so thin the killer is known very early because in a Glasgow based series when in the church his Edinburgh accent shines through too easy & i'm surprised the producers never picked up on this themselves ? My other problem with this episode is that it shows up the RC church for what it is with killers being hidden as it is a law upon itself which is totally wrong but at least our Jackie told the priest what she thought of him at the end ? I love Taggart but this is one of my least favorite episodes......