TAGGART

03 January, 2007 by The_Boss

ITV1 Wednesday 3rd January 2007 9:00pm to 10:30pm

Users and Losers
Taggart returns to ITV1 with an horrific murder, pushing Burke, Reid, Ross and Fraser deep into the horseracing world.

With nothing in his pockets except a betting slip for £1,000 for the local horse races, Pete Furnish has been kicked to death in the street. It’s not long before the team identify him as a race regular and a very heavy gambler, whose bets have recently been spiraling out of control.

The victim’s flat has been trashed and the team soon find out why – there’s
£50,000 under the floorboards. The notes are the result of a robbery but, with the perpetrators already behind bars, how did Furnish acquire the money?

However it got into his possession, it’s obvious that Furnish was laundering the money through betting. And here’s a new twist when DCI Burke realizes that the horses that lost the races all seem to come from the same stables. Furnish must have had inside information…. But when the team turn up to question James and Penny Forsyth, the owners of the stables, they deny any involvement in race-fixing.

Not only that but trainer Terry Deans (Mark McDonnell) seems trustworthy, and stable-hand Panda Ramage is a reformed character since he overcame his heroin addiction. Neither have any history of race-fixing. The spotlight soon falls on Paul Cooley, the main jockey for the stables, caught once before betting on a horse he was riding and the main rider for every race that’s been lost.

But when the team find out that there’s something going on between Penny Forsyth and Paul Cooley, things start to hot up. First James Forsyth threatens to fire Cooley and then Penny is found dead in the woods….

The detectives realise there is more to these murders than they thought, but will they be able to catch the killer before he kills again?


This episode of Taggart is written by Mike Cullen and directed by Ian Madden. The producer is Graeme Gordon and the executive producer is Eric Coulter. It is an SMG Production for ITV1.


Cast: DS Jackie Reid: Blythe Duff
DI Robbie Ross: John Michie
DCI Matt Burke: Alex Norton
DC Stuart Fraser: Colin McCredie

Panda Ramage: Gary Sweeney
Terry Deans: Mark McDonnell
Penny Forsyth: Panadora Clifford
James Forsyth: Ronan Vibert
Paul Cooley: Jason Harvey
Raymond Carney: John Kay steel
Dr Magnus Baird: Michael Mackenzie
Gary: Chris Alexander
Charlie Miller: Charles Donnelly
Donnie Miller: Mark Young