The longest continually running police drama series in television history.
The programme is named after the lead character DCI Jim Taggart, played by Mark McManus. When McManus died in 1994 the series continued without him, or the character.
While still residing in his homeland, Scottish actor David Tennant auditioned unsuccessfully several times for a role in this series.
This episode was the beginning of a virtual 'job-for-life' for Blythe Duff, who first appeared here as Jackie Reid, a role she kept for the rest of the series. The 'Taggart' figure may change but WPC/DC/DS Reid keeps con going after more than 25 years, longer than most TV series last.
Toward the end of the program, we are shown a tank of little, yellowy green frogs. The obvious intimation being that these are " Poison Dart Frogs ". In fact, the frogs shown were deadly accurate to the plot. They were genuine specimens of Phyllobates terribilis. One of the most lethally poisonous creatures known to modern science. The real deal.
Julian Glover stood in for Iain Anders who was ill.
This episode was called 'Lunch Club' when it was broadcast in the Netherlands, by the KRO, in June 2008, and when it screened in Australia, on ABC1, in October 2009.
This episode was first shown significantly out of order. It has the now replaced opening title sequence, and its storyline mentions Jackie's husband Brian Holmes as if only recently deceased. The copyright date is 2007, although it was not aired until 30 December 2008 - perhaps because the hour and a half length no longer fitted ITV's post-watershed pre-news slot.
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