Dead Ringer

Dead Ringer is the 1st episode of Taggart. It was first broadcast on the ITV network in three weekly parts from 2 to 16 July 1985.

SYNOPSIS
 The skeletal remains of a dismembered body are discovered beneath the floorboards of a house in Glasgow... The drama takes an unexpected twist when a nine-month-old toddler is kidnapped from a multi-storey car park, followed by a ransom demand of £50,000. Jim Taggart heads the enquiry, with Peter Livingstone at his side.

PLOT
When workmen discover the partial skeleton of a dead woman under the floorboards of an old house in Glasgow, Detective Chief Inspector Jim Taggart has to reopen a murder case he put to bed nine years earlier. The remains are those of Margaret Balfour, who went missing in 1975, after being abducted. Back then, Taggart had arrested Margaret's husband, David. After a lengthy interrogation, David confessed to killing his wife, though her body was never found. His motive? To claim her £50,000 life insurance.

The discovery of the bones suggests that David Balfour may have been innocent, and Taggart is forced to admit that his bullying methods might have sent the wrong man to jail. The case had made headlines as one of Scotland's few convictions for murder without a body.

After finding Margaret's wedding ring and handbag next to the skeleton, Taggart and Detective Sergeant Peter Livingstone team up to find the real killer. Their investigations quickly lead to a dead end - literally. The person now deemed most likely to have committed the murder is Fred O'Donnell, a felon who died years earlier.

The house where the skeleton was found used to belong to Josephine Peebles, a wealthy heiress of a shipbuilding family, who devotes her time to helping ex-convicts. Back in 1975, she ran the property as a 'halfway house', and at that time of the murder she rented out two rooms: one to Fred O'Donnell and one to George Cunningham, a mentally troubled man, who tried to kill his wife because he thought she was a witch. Livingstone thinks O'Donnell abducted Margaret and disposed of the body in the flat. Taggart is not convinced, though, and wants to find the rest of the remains - especially the skull - before he jumps to any more wrong conclusions about the murder.

With David Balfour's name now cleared, he is released from Glasgow's notorious Barlinnie Prison. Nine years inside have ruined his life; his brother Mike stopped visiting him years earlier after marrying June and raising a family. At least David will be well-off: the local newspaper offers £20,000 for the story of how Taggart "fitted him up"; Balfour is also due £70,000 compensation for wrongful arrest and imprisonment; and there is still his wife's £50,000 life insurance money. However, as Balfour tells the local reporter: "I have one thing I can never buy back" - his dead wife.

Meanwhile, Taggart is grappling with his conscience about David's mistaken conviction. "If hanging hadn't been abolished, who'd have been the murderer then, Mr Taggart?" Balfour asks. It is clearly that Taggart feels guilty for his error. "The past has a way of catching up with you," he says sadly. To his credit, Taggart tries to apologise to David. If there's anything I can do..." he tells the innocent man he coerced into confessing. "Try resigning," replies Balfour angrily. "Come Sunday your name won't be worth the space it takes up in the telephone directory."

CAST

 * Det. Chief Inspector Taggart - Mark McManus
 * Det. Sergeant Livingstone - Neil Duncan
 * Superintendent Murray - Tom Watson
 * Josephine Peebles - Colette O'Neil
 * Bill Lynch - J. G. Devlin
 * George Cunningham - John Carlin
 * Ronnie McIssac - Jake D'Arcy
 * Alan Tulloch - Bill Leadbitter
 * David Balfour - Alexander Morton
 * Mike Balfour - John McGlynn
 * June Balfour - Maureen Beattie
 * Laurie Johnson - Ron Bain
 * Mrs. Robertson - Valerie Lush
 * Norman Burt - Jackie Farrell
 * Sheila Burt - Anne Myatt
 * Det. Constable Sinclair - Ken Drury
 * Dr. Andrews - Robert Robertson
 * Sgt. Blackman - Gavin Brown
 * Dougie Turnbull - Joe Mullaney
 * Tom - Stephen Whinnery
 * Jack - Mike Travis
 * Dr. Burns - Anne-Louise Ross
 * Mrs. Cochrane - Anne Downie