Television TV

A Mind To Kill

Superior Welsh police drama starring Philip Madoc, that was the Welsh equivalent of 'Taggart'. Gritty and hard-hitting, a pilot episode was run in '91 which led to the much-acclaimed Channel 5 series from '94 to '04. The series thus covered the period leading up to and following Welsh devolution.

Madoc played DCI Noel Bain, a widower whose wife was killed by a drunk driver some years previously. He finds modern policing hard to adapt to in comparison with his nostalgia for the old days. He has a tempestuous relationship with his daughter Hannah (Ffion Wilkins), who doesn't see much of her Dad due to the nature of his job. Despite this, Hannah later goes on to join her father's force as a WPC.

Sharon Morgan played police pathologist Prof. Margaret Edwards, who has a close but enigmatic friendship with Bain. Big name guest appearances included Carol Drinkwater and David Warner, who played the drunk driver responsible for Bain's wife's death.

Supposedly set in and around Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, much of the series was actually filmed in Aberystwyth and Ceredigion. Due to it being a Welsh series, none of the four main terrestrial TV channels agreed to show it, so it was shunted onto the then new Channel 5- but still enjoyed high viewing figures regardless!

This series helped to ensure that Welsh TV drama came to be taken seriously throughout the British Isles in the 21st Century, and paved the way for other Cambrian-based dramas such as 'Torchwood'. A Welsh-language version (called 'Noson y Heliwr' which means 'Night of the Huntsman') was shown on S4C.


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Do You Remember A Mind To Kill?

Do You Remember A Mind To Kill?