Taggart

Taggart began as a miniseries pilot titled "Killer" that aired in September 1983, before a full series was commissioned and ran until 2010, making it one of the UK's longest-running television dramas.

Lead actor Mark McManus, who played DCI Jim Taggart, died in 1994 during the filming of an episode, yet the series continued under the same title, with his absence explained as being in meetings with the Chief Constable and later depicted through his character's funeral in the 1995 episode "Black Orchid".

Several actors who later became main cast members first appeared in the show as guest suspects: Colin McCredie played a suspect in a youth gang before joining as DC Stuart Fraser, John Michie played a suspect called Robby Meiklejohn in 1990 before joining as DI Robbie Ross in 1998, and Alex Norton played murder suspect George Bryce in 1986 before joining as DCI Matt Burke in 2002.

After filming on series 26 was completed in December 2009, Colin McCredie was informed that he and his character would not be returning for the next series.

A dispute between ITV plc and STV over broadcasting rights led STV to suspend production of Taggart in September 2009, though STV announced in November 2009 it would produce new episodes regardless of ITV's decision, and the two broadcasters eventually co-commissioned a six-part series with investment from UKTV.

The show was primarily filmed in and around Glasgow, with the original title card using a panoramic shot of the city taken from the summit of Cathkin Braes, later replaced by a shot from The Lighthouse on Mitchell Lane.

In later series, buildings of the University of Strathclyde were used extensively as filming locations, including the Colville Building and James Weir Building as the police station exterior and the Livingstone Tower for interiors; the fictional police station name "John Street" is actually a real location within the campus.

In Australia, ABC1 actually broadcast the episodes "IOU", "Local Hero", and "The Rapture" before STV did, due to scheduling conflicts between the two broadcasters.