The Loch Ness Monster, affectionately known as Nessie, is a mythical creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protruding from the water. Popular interest and belief in the creature has varied since it was brought to worldwide attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal with a number of disputed photographs and sonar readings.
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates is a British crime drama television series, starring Patricia Routledge as the title character, Henrietta "Hetty" Wainthropp, that aired for four series between 3 January 1996 and 4 September 1998 on BBC One. The series, spawned from a pilot episode entitled "Missing Persons" aired by ITV in 1990, was co-created by writers David Cook and John Bowen, co-starred Derek Benfield as Hetty's patient husband Robert, and Dominic Monaghan as her assistant and lodger Geoffrey Shawcross. It marked Monaghan’s acting debut.
Laura Fraser is a Scottish actress. She has played Door in the urban fantasy series Neverwhere, Kate in the film A Knight's Tale, Cat MacKenzie in the BBC Three drama series Lip Service and Lydia Rodarte-Quayle in the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad and its spin-off Better Call Saul.
Ballykissangel is a BBC television drama created by Kieran Prendiville and set in Ireland, produced in-house by BBC Northern Ireland. The original story revolved around a young English Roman Catholic priest as he became part of a rural community. It ran for six series, which were first broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2001. It aired in Ireland on RTÉ One and in Australia on ABC TV from 1996 to 2001. Repeats have been shown on Drama in the United Kingdom and in the United States on some PBS affiliates.
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.
The Family-Ness is a cartoon series from Scotland first produced in 1983. It was originally broadcast on BBC One from 5 October 1984 to 5 April 1985, with repeats airing throughout most of the 1990s and early 2000s, eventually ending with a short run on CBeebies on BBC Two between 11 and 22 February 2002. It was created by Peter Maddocks of Maddocks Cartoon Productions. Maddocks later went on to produce Penny Crayon and Jimbo and the Jet Set in a similar style. Family-Ness was about the adventures of a family of Loch Ness Monsters and the MacTout family, particularly siblings Elspeth and Angus. The 'Nessies' could be called from the loch by the two children by means of their "thistle whistles".
Murphy's Law is a BBC television drama, produced by Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC Northern Ireland, starring James Nesbitt as an undercover police officer, Tommy Murphy. There were five series of the drama, shown on BBC One. The first two were composed of individual stories. Series three, four and five were each single stories composed over multiple episodes. Colin Bateman adapted the pilot for a novel.
Wire in the Blood is a British crime drama television series, created and produced by Coastal Productions with Tyne Tees Television and broadcast on ITV from 14 November 2002 to 31 October 2008. The series is based on characters created by Val McDermid, including a university clinical psychologist, Dr Anthony "Tony" Valentine Hill, who is able to tap into his own dark side to get inside the heads of serial killers. Working with detectives, Hill takes on tough and seemingly impenetrable cases in an attempt to track down the killers before they strike again.
Phyllis Logan is a Scottish actress, widely known for her roles as Lady Jane Felsham in Lovejoy (1986–1993) and Mrs Hughes in Downton Abbey (2010–2015). She won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for the 1983 film Another Time, Another Place. Her other film appearances include Secrets & Lies (1996), Shooting Fish (1997), Downton Abbey (2019) and Misbehaviour (2020).
Rebus is a British television detective drama series based on the Inspector Rebus novels by the Scottish author Ian Rankin. The series, produced by STV Studios for the ITV network, was broadcast between 26 April 2000 and 7 December 2007, and consisted of fourteen episodes across four series.
Katherine Kelly is an English actress. She rose to prominence with her portrayal of Becky McDonald on the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2006–2012), for which she received multiple awards, including the British Soap Award for Best Actress (2009) and the NTA for Best Serial Drama Performance (2012).
The Syndicate is a British television drama series. It was written by Kay Mellor and is broadcast on BBC One. It sees five members of a betting syndicate win the lottery. Each series follows a different syndicate. The first series is set in a Leeds supermarket; the second, a public hospital in Bradford; the third, a crumbling stately home near Scarborough; and the fourth is set between a dog kennel in Yorkshire and Monaco.
Siobhan Margaret Finneran is an English actress. She made her screen debut in the 1987 independent film Rita, Sue and Bob Too, and subsequently worked consistently in television drama including roles in Coronation Street (1989–1990), Clocking Off (2000–2002) and The Amazing Mrs Pritchard (2006). In 2005, Finneran originated the lead female role in the stage play On the Shore of the Wide World and was awarded the Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Also a comedy performer, Finneran appeared as Janice Garvey, a leading character in the first seven series of ITV sitcom Benidorm (2007–2015).
Benidorm is a British sitcom written and created by Derren Litten and produced by Tiger Aspect for ITV that aired for ten series from 1 February 2007 until 2 May 2018. The series features an ensemble cast of holiday makers and staff at the Solana all-inclusive hotel in Benidorm, Spain over the course of a week each year.
Fearless is a six-part British crime thriller television drama series created by screenwriter Patrick Harbinson and broadcast on ITV in 2017. The series follows human-rights lawyer Emma Banville as she tries to prove convicted murderer Kevin Russell innocent of the murder of schoolgirl Linda Simms 14 years earlier. Russell asserts that he is innocent of the crime, and Emma believes that his conviction was a miscarriage of justice. She goes to extreme lengths to discover the truth.
Line of Duty is a British police procedural television series created by Jed Mercurio and produced by World Productions. On 26 June 2012, BBC Two began to broadcast the first series; it was its best-performing drama series in ten years with a consolidated audience of 4.1 million viewers. Broadcast of the second series began on 12 February 2014; its widespread public and critical acclaim led to the BBC commissioning a further two series. The third series began on 24 March 2016 on BBC Two; the following three series were broadcast on BBC One.
Unforgotten is a British crime drama television series, which initially aired on ITV on 8 October 2015. It was created and written by Chris Lang and directed by Andy Wilson. The programme follows a team of London detectives led by DCI Cassie Stuart, DCI Jessie James and DI Sunny Khan as they solve cold cases of disappearance and murder.
Midwinter Of The Spirit is a British horror drama television series that was broadcast as three episodes from 23 September 2015 to 7 October 2015, and stars Anna Maxwell Martin, David Threlfall, and Sally Messham.
Siobhan Finneran is an English actress who has worked in theatre, television and film. Finneran made her film debut starring as Rita in the 1987 film release Rita, Sue and Bob Too. Over the following decade, Finneran established herself as a television actress appearing frequently in both comedic and dramatic guest roles. Into the 21st century, Finneran began appearing in more regular and leading roles in returning and standalone television series. Her more prolific work includes Benidorm (2007–2015), Downton Abbey (2010–2012) and Happy Valley (2014–2023).
