Taggart
Scottish television series
Taggart is a Scottish detective fiction television programme created by Glenn Chandler, who wrote many of the episodes, and made by STV Studios for the ITV network. It originally ran as the miniseries Killer from 6 until 20 September 1983, before a full series was commissioned that ran from 2 July 1985 until 7 November 2010. The series revolved around a group of detectives initially in the Maryhill CID of Strathclyde Police, though various storylines were set in other parts of Greater Glasgow and in other areas of Scotland. The team operated out of the fictional John Street police station. Mark McManus, who played the title character Jim Taggart, died in 1994. However, the series continued under the same name. Taggart is one of the UK's longest-running television dramas.
History
The Scottish BAFTA-winning pilot episode "Killer", directed by Laurence Moody and broadcast in 1983, introduced the character Detective Chief Inspector Jim Taggart (played by Mark McManus until his death in 1994), a tough and experienced detective who had worked his way up through the ranks. His original sidekick was Detective Sergeant Peter Livingstone (Neil Duncan). Livingstone represented the new breed of young graduates entering the police force and frequently had a difficult relationship with Taggart as a result.
“Taggart” enters the record as scottish television series. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Taggart, Scottish and television can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Taggart” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Taggart, Scottish and television provides the most credible route into that argument.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2424566. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1983, 1985, 2010 and 1994.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Taggart”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Taggart primary sources, Taggart archive and Taggart research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Taggart”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Taggart” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.