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IT helped launch the careers of countless Scots Hollywood stars and gave Maryhill a profile far beyond Scotland. Taggart has hit its 20th birthday and celebrates with a one-off episode airing next Tuesday. Penthouse and Pavement will rake through theworld of horror fiction and prostitution as the team investigate the murder of a novelist. With viewing figures of up to 18 million it was the show that may not have been. Originally a one-off, it proved so successful in 1983 that it was recommissionedunder the name of the craggy faced Jim Taggart, unforgettably played by the late Mark McManus.
So what's the secret of the show's long life? PAUL ENGLISH speaks to the people behind the scenes who make it all work.
THE SCRIPT WRITER WRITER Stuart Hepburn reckons the secret is quite simple.
"The key is people love a good story, and I don't think they see it the same way as they see police series like The Bill, " he explains.
"The style has evolved, and I think that's how it managed to go on without Mark McManus."
Stuart, who has also had acting bit-parts in early Taggarts, has written some of the show's most memorable episodes, most recently the demise last year of James Macpherson's character.
But he found the process of having to `kill off' a good mate very difficult.
"It was actually very traumatic, not an easy thing to do, " he said.
"DI Jardine was a character who people had taken to their hearts, so how do you kill him with dignity, and on a budget?
"You have to respect your audience, and I found it emotional to write a scene about someone I've known and grown close to."
In the end, Jardine's demise, and subsequent grim discovery on mudflats on the Clyde at Langbank, have gone down as some of the most memorable and emotional scenes in the series' history.
Blythe Duff found those scenes difficult to film having worked with James for so long.
But his departure could have been a lot more dramatic.
"We were going to be sending him off after a fall from the...