Series synopsis
Dalziel and Pascoe is a British mystery crime drama television series that premiered on BBC One on March 16, 1996. It ended on June 22, 2007. It was created by Reginald Hill. It stars Warren Clarke, Colin Buchanan, David Royle and Jennifer James.
In the fictional Yorkshire town of Wetherton, the unlikely duo of politically incorrect elephant-in-a-China-shop-copper DS Andrew Dalziel (pronounced Dee-ell) and his more sensitive and university educated sidekick DS, later DI, Peter Pascoe is always on hand to solve the classic murder mystery, while maintaining down-to-Earth wit and humour.
Premise
In the fictional Yorkshire town of Wetherton, the unlikely duo of politically incorrect elephant-in-a-China-shop-copper DS Andrew Dalziel (pronounced Dee-ell) and his more sensitive and university educated sidekick DS, later DI, Peter Pascoe is always on hand to solve the classic murder mystery, while maintaining down-to-Earth wit and humour.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Warren Clarke as DS Andy Dalziel
- Colin Buchanan as DI Peter Pascoe
- David Royle as DS Edgar Wield
- Jennifer James as WPC Kim 'Posh' Spicer
- Wayne Perrey as DC Parvez Lateef
- Jo-Anne Stockham as DC Shirley 'Ivor' Novello
- Navin Chowdhry as PC Sanjay Singh
- Pippa Haywood as ACC Rebecca Fenning
Supporting cast
- Katy Cavanagh as DS Dawn 'Spike' Milligan
- Naomi Bentley as WPC Maria 'Janet' Jackson
- Malcolm Tierney as CC Victor Raymond
- Susannah Corbett as Ellie Pascoe
- Joe Savino as Dr Frank Mason
- James Puddephatt as Dr James Ashurst
- Jemma Hines as WPC Claire 'Lulu' Baines
- Fred Pearson as Dr Thomas Vickery
- Keeley Forsyth as DC Carrie 'Tweedie' Harris
- Richard O'Callaghan as Aidan Scarman
- Rosie Millar as Rosie Pascoe
- Rebecca Bridges as Rosie Pascoe
Guest cast
- Malcolm Tierney as CC Victor Raymond
- Susannah Corbett as Ellie Pascoe
- Joe Savino as Dr Frank Mason
- James Puddephatt as Dr James Ashurst
- Jemma Hines as WPC Claire 'Lulu' Baines
- Fred Pearson as Dr Thomas Vickery
- Keeley Forsyth as DC Carrie 'Tweedie' Harris
- Richard O'Callaghan as Aidan Scarman
- Rosie Millar as Rosie Pascoe
- Rebecca Bridges as Rosie Pascoe
- Sylvia Kay as Mrs Mary Soper
- Peter Halliday as Mr Edward Soper
Episodes
This series spans 12 seasons with 61 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 3 | March 16, 1996 | March 30, 1996 |
| Season 2 | 4 | June 14, 1997 | July 12, 1997 |
| Season 3 | 4 | March 21, 1998 | October 25, 1998 |
| Season 4 | 4 | June 12, 1999 | July 3, 1999 |
| Season 5 | 4 | July 1, 2000 | July 22, 2000 |
| Season 6 | 4 | October 28, 2001 | November 19, 2001 |
| Season 7 | 6 | September 29, 2002 | December 22, 2002 |
| Season 8 | 4 | January 2, 2004 | January 24, 2004 |
| Season 9 | 8 | January 29, 2005 | February 21, 2005 |
| Season 10 | 10 | March 5, 2006 | April 11, 2006 |
| Season 11 | 4 | September 2, 2006 | September 11, 2006 |
| Season 12 | 6 | May 5, 2007 | June 22, 2007 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
A Clubbable Woman DS Andy Dalziel is forced to accept new recruit Peter Pascoe as the pair team up to investigate a serious murder case. Wetherton Rugby Club's golden boy, Sam Connon, wakes after arriving at home with a hangover, to find his wife, Mary, dead in the armchair. Being vice-president of the rugby club himself, Dalziel decides to ruffle a few feathers and find out who had enough of a motive to want to kill her. However, with the murder weapon nowhere to be found, evidence of the killer's involvement is rather thin on the ground. The discovery of hidden 'dirty' letters, discussion of naked foreplay at the bedroom window, and the unearthing of the murder weapon during the search for a missing eight-year-old boy make for the final pieces of the puzzle. Does someone at the rugby club bear a terrible grudge against the couple — or is the true murderer closer to home? |
March 16, 1996 |
| 2 |
An Advancement of Learning Dalziel and Pascoe are thrown into uni life when the body of former uni principal Alison Girling—who supposedly died in a bus crash in Austria—is found underneath her own memorial statue in the car park. Speaking to all of the staff who worked alongside Girling prior to her death, Dalziel struggles to make any headway until the body of Anita Sewell, a student accusing another staff member of sexual harassment is found naked on a nearby golf course. Suspecting they may have a serial killer on their hands, the trail leads straight to the doorstep of the accused – Sam Fallowfield – only for the pair to find his house trashed and homophobic slurs sprayed all over the wall. Suspecting the culprit is closer to home, Dalziel's anger blows its top when he arrives back at the university to find his temporary police HQ has been trashed by students. And then Fallowfield is found dead. |
March 23, 1996 |
| 3 |
An Autumn Shroud Having persuaded Pascoe to marry the long-suffering Ellie, Dalziel finds himself with the opportunity to whisk himself away on holiday while Pascoe is on honeymoon. But, as ever, events fail to go to plan when Dalziel's car breaks down and he finds himself amidst a river funeral procession. Invited to stay at the deceased's house by his attractive widow, Dalziel believes all his dreams have come true, until her son goes missing, the housekeeper ends up dead in Epping Forest, and an insurance investigator with a tip-off about an insurance scam regarding the family's newest business venture ends up drowned in a nearby lake. |
March 30, 1996 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Ruling Passion Pascoe and a pregnant Ellie visit friends in Oxfordshire but are horrified when they discover the corpses of Rose Hopkins and two of her guests. Meanwhile, back in Yorkshire, Dalziel investigates a series of burglaries in which the thief leaves a bizarre calling card. |
June 14, 1997 |
| 2 |
A Killing Kindness A serial killer is targeting recently engaged young women, and, after every attack, phones the local newspaper and quotes from Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'. Investigations centre around a fair, where the young relative of a psychic fortune teller who 'saw' the death of Brenda Sorby is also murdered. |
June 21, 1997 |
| 3 |
Deadheads Dick Elgood, an old fiend of Dalziel's, unofficially reports two strange, nearly fatal incidents and asks Dalziel to investigate. The subsequent investigation exposes a chain of bizarre, accidental deaths stretching back nearly three decades but not a single shred of evidence to suggest foul play! Each of the seemingly unconnected deaths have somehow or other benefited Patrick Alderman although it cannot be proven that he has any connection. |
June 28, 1997 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Under World Dalziel and Pascoe investigate when the skeleton of missing miner Billy Farr is found in a mineshaft in the Yorkshire coalfields, four years after his disappearance. At the time, a seven-year-old girl was murdered, and initially, a serial killer who confessed to killing five other girls was suspected. However, she was good friends with Farr, and due to the fact they both went missing on the same day, certain townsfolk believed he was somehow responsible. |
March 21, 1998 |
| 2 |
Child's Play The funeral of an elderly Italian woman is interrupted by the arrival of her son, thought missing since 1944. Her relatives suspect that his abrupt appearance is only to collect his inheritance, as he is her sole beneficiary. Not all of her relatives are convinced he is who he says he is, but a fraudster. Meanwhile, Wield's private life nearly hits the front page when a friend of his ex-partner threatens to blow the whistle on his sexuality, if he doesn't help him find his missing father. The chief constable is not best pleased when the news gets back to him, and asks Dalziel to expose his friend. |
March 28, 1998 |
| 3 |
Bones and Silence Dalziel is the sole witness to a death by gunshot in his neighbourhood, with the two involved men protesting that they were simply trying to stop the victim killing herself. Dalziel believes her husband, Philip Swain, murdered her, viewing him as the embodiment of evil. Theatre director Eileen Anstiss casts Dalziel as God and Swain as Lucifer in a community mystery play, while Dalziel is sent a series of letters from a woman contemplating suicide. |
October 18, 1998 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
On Beulah Height What happened to little Mary? Eight years ago, the town was sure they knew: Benny, a boy with a metal plate in his head, who also disappeared. When another little girl vanishes, the squad investigates, but Pascoe is sidelined by his daughter's meningitis. Mary's bereaved family adopted Betsy (now called Elizabeth), now a well-known singer, has come home to sing a requiem for Mary. Townspeople claim to have seen Benny; his aunt had a visitor asking about money close to her death; Betsy's fathers (birth and adopted) and even little Rose Pascoe are crucial witnesses. |
June 12, 1999 |
| 2 |
Recalled to Life Over 30 years into her sentence for the murder of her lover's wife, Cissy Kohler claims to have been coerced into a false confession. When released, she's in protective custody while Dalziel and his comatose ex-boss are investigated for their roles in the conviction. |
June 19, 1999 |
| 3 |
Time to Go The drugs-related death of a young man who lapsed into a coma at a rave club attracts the interest of Dalziel and Pascoe. As the detectives investigate deeper into the rave club they discover that the club is owned by intense, inseparable twins Nicholas and Sophie Richmond, and financed by their seemingly benign Uncle Henry, a maker of perfume. This bizarre trio cause problems enough for Dalziel but he comes under more pressure when, during a drugs raid, he arrests the son of his ex-wife Mary Waddell. Following another strange rave murder, the duo are forced to dig even deeper into the private lives and motivations of the diverse group of suspects surrounding these murders with some startling results. |
June 26, 1999 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
A Sweeter Lazarus When a suspected serial killer jumps to his death from the roof of a homeless hostel, the only witnesses are Pascoe and a homeless girl, who goes by the name of Abbie Hallingsworth—who has been missing for nineteen years. DC Shaz Kendall, on attachment to Wetherton CID, invites Abbie to stay while she tries to learn more about the events leading up to her disappearance. However, her coy tactics of introducing her to her long-lost family lands her in hot water with Dalziel. |
July 1, 2000 |
| 2 |
Cunning Old Fox The death of businesswoman Georgina Webster, who falls from her horse during a fox hunt, turns out to be more than an accident when the leader of the hunt is sent a letter to that effect. Investigating, Dalziel and Pascoe discover someone planted gunpowder in a hedge shortly before her death, causing her horse to be startled and throw her off. As the local SABS group come under investigation, Dalziel discovers that the daughter of the huntsmaster is in fact a saboteur, and may hold more of a grudge than her compadres. |
July 8, 2000 |
| 3 |
Foreign Bodies Dalziel and Pascoe are tasked with investigating four suspicious deaths occurring within hours of one another: the first is of a French art dealer, who appears to have either slipped or was pushed from the side of a motorway bridge; the second, a Russian national whose coffin is found floating just off the coast of Whitby; the third, a Japanese tourist, found stabbed atop a famous beauty spot mentioned in Wuthering Heights; and the fourth, an East German agent, seeking a German academic's writings containing secret information the Stasi don't want published. |
July 15, 2000 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Walls of Silence A promising young musician, who has just been awarded a scholarship to the Royal Academy, is discovered dead in a lake. The youngster has an unfortunate link to Andy Dalziel, a fact that causes him to be pulled from the case by ACC Belinda Kennedy. As they investigate the youngsters troubled life more secrets come out. Dalziel meanwhile picks up a lead on the case that links him to the youngsters family and solves another mystery. |
October 29, 2001 |
| 2 |
Home Truths A young Indian woman is murdered after a heated meeting of a racially divided community who are discussing the fate of the local youth centre. Andy and his team are pulled in as there are no resources available. DC Novello drives through a riot and has her car window smashed before Dalziel & Wield come to the rescue. Dalziel is not made to feel welcome by the local Super - she calls him a country bumpkin! With the help of a Indian PC they follow up on leads - and in this case everyone has hidden agendas. |
November 5, 2001 |
| 3 |
Secrets of the Dead An old flame of Dalziel's dies of cancer and someone murders the village lawyer. Together these 2 events open a can of worms. Peter Pascoe goes to visit his daughter in America, right into the path of a hurricane, aptly named Hurricane Andy. A letter addressed to Andy reveals that he is a father, something he had been unaware of for over 20yrs. Before he can deal with this his son is murdered. In the end everyone has a secret and Dalziel manages to turn over every rock to expose the truth |
November 12, 2001 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
The Unwanted Pascoe returns home for the grand country wedding of a school friend. Soldier Ian Henslowe is marrying Jill Lowry, favourite daughter of wealthy farmer Ted Lowry. The reception is disrupted by the discovery of a dead body in the Lowry's pig sheds. The victim is Ian's best friend, fellow soldier Martin Wilkie. Dalziel, who's just returned from a hospital check-up for his dodgy heart, arrives to investigate. Ian's devastated when Jill admits that she was having an affair with Wilkie. Dalziel and Pascoe visit Wilkie's regiment and his home, only to find that it has just been ransacked and set on fire by an intruder; Dalziel tells Pascoe he is too close to the suspects to stay on the case; instead he can remain at his parents' and hope to pick up gossip. Pascoe does not get on with his father, who has always resented his son's decision not to go into farming, especially after the recent hardships of the foot-and-mouth outbreak. Instead, Bill Pascoe has relied for help on Pascoe's cousin, T |
September 30, 2002 |
| 2 |
Mens Sana Dalziel checks out of hospital after a heart attack and is at home, bored, when a murder takes place at a posh health spa. He checks himself in there to investigate. Soon another murder takes place - are the two related? |
October 7, 2002 |
| 3 |
Sins of the Fathers A paralyzed girl is miraculously healed after sitting under a tree in the woods near her home. Later the same tree yields the body of a young girl killed a long time ago. This leads Dalziel into a web of abuse by the Catholic Church, including the practice of splitting up families and making youngsters slave labour on church farms. In the village Dalziel bumps into his sister, who is trying to find her brother, that Dalziel knew nothing about. And she has news for him that breaks his heart. |
October 14, 2002 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
A Game of Soldiers An American woman tracing her family appears in a graveyard. The only person she meets is the gravedigger. Next time she's seen she is found dead by a bunch of squaddies. Dalziel comes to investigate and bumps into another old flame, Jenny Ettrick. Later, one of the squaddies kills himself after being harassed by his sergeant As Dalziel starts investigating, they find that the victim may have drunk in the squaddies bar. Another squaddie turns up dead and while investigating that murder they find out that there might be a case of mistaken identity |
January 3, 2004 |
| 2 |
The Price of Fame Dalziel is investigating the disapperance of a teenage girl who was addicted to the Internet. He gets rough with the only suspect they have and gets booted off the case. Then a girl gets murdered at a holiday resort. Not any girl - a popular girl who won a TV reality contest. Then one of the holiday makers turns up dead as well. There are plenty of suspects but no real motive. Dalziel comes back onto the case. Another colleague is investigating a diamond heist. After Pascoe discovers a suspect from that case, by falling into a swimming pool, it looks like the cases could be linked |
January 10, 2004 |
| 3 |
Great Escapes Dalziel's car breaks down on the moors and unsurprisingly Pascoe won't come fetch him in the middle of the night Dalziel walks to a nearby pub and stays the night. The next morning he discovers a body while taking a walk and suddenly a bigger case unfolds. The landlord's son was convicted of murdering his wife but her body was never found. He has escaped while in transit and is expected to arrive at the pub to see his son. Suddenly the wife's body turns up, and it's clear it has been stored somewhere for a number of years. Dalziel does some digging and discovers the real murderer is much closer to home. |
January 17, 2004 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Heads You Lose (1) Pascoe is rushed to hospital with serious injuries following a car crash, and slips into a coma. Dalziel keeps a vigil at his bedside and realises just how much his partner means to him. Meanwhile, when a local fisherman reels in a gruesome catch – a human foot – and police divers discover other body parts amongst illegally dumped waste in a nearby lake, Dalziel finds himself at the centre of a potential murder enquiry. As the case unravels, Dalziel discovers an uneasy relationship between Wetherton's leading hospital physician, Dr McKenzie Mansfield, and neurology consultant Mr Alisdair Collinson, not to mention a snake pit of political wranglings with local business tycoon, and the main source of the hospital's funding, Barry Jemmerson. Dalziel finds himself torn between trying to cope with Pascoe's continuing deterioration and his duty as a policeman to throw himself into this very intricate and gruesome case. |
January 30, 2005 |
| 2 |
Heads You Lose (2) Pascoe is rushed to hospital with serious injuries following a car crash, and slips into a coma. Dalziel keeps a vigil at his bedside and realises just how much his partner means to him. Meanwhile, when a local fisherman reels in a gruesome catch – a human foot – and police divers discover other body parts amongst illegally dumped waste in a nearby lake, Dalziel finds himself at the centre of a potential murder enquiry. As the case unravels, Dalziel discovers an uneasy relationship between Wetherton's leading hospital physician, Dr McKenzie Mansfield, and neurology consultant Mr Alisdair Collinson, not to mention a snake pit of political wranglings with local business tycoon, and the main source of the hospital's funding, Barry Jemmerson. Dalziel finds himself torn between trying to cope with Pascoe's continuing deterioration and his duty as a policeman to throw himself into this very intricate and gruesome case. |
January 31, 2005 |
| 3 |
Dead Meat (1) A corpse of a man was found in a cage with a tiger in a zoo, and everything indicates that this death was a murder. Dalzil and Pascoe are investigating and are facing an old unsolved murder case that happened at this zoo 24 years ago. Peter meets with Ellie and Rosie, who arrived in Yorkshire, and asks them not to leave. |
February 6, 2005 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Houdini's Ghost (1) While investigating the death of a wealthy entrepreneur, Dalziel is reunited with old flame Kay Miclean, whose estranged husband was the victim. While all the evidence points towards the fact that he committed suicide, the victim's son and Pascoe believe that it could be murder. Dalziel believes otherwise until another death occurs. |
March 6, 2006 |
| 2 | Houdini's Ghost (2) | March 7, 2006 |
| 3 |
Glory Days (1) A bus with a football team collides with a train, it crashes, three team members die. The bus driver escapes from the scene of the crime. Dalzil and Pascoe believe that the accident was not accidental and that the bus was killed. In addition, an old case of the unsolved murder of a little girl that occurred during the football riots comes up. |
March 13, 2006 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
The Cave Woman (1) When a woman's mummified remains emerge from the water during a cave rescue operation, Dalziel and Pascoe embark upon a treacherous murder inquiry which rocks their world to its core. |
September 3, 2006 |
| 2 |
The Cave Woman (2) When a woman's mummified remains emerge from the water during a cave rescue operation, Dalziel and Pascoe embark upon a treacherous murder inquiry which rocks their world to its core. |
September 4, 2006 |
| 3 |
Fallen Angel (1) Dalziel and Pascoe's investigation comes under increasing attack, despite their best efforts to search for clues. However, they battle harder than ever to uncover the truth about the mummified remains, which they believe are connected to the case of the Yorkshire chief constable's ex-wife, who vanished more than 20 years ago. |
September 10, 2006 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Demons on Our Shoulders (1) On Halloween, Kate Johnson is killed in her bedroom, the victim of a shotgun blast. Her husband Guy is the obvious suspect, having now disappeared. In an odd twist, the couple had been part of a television broadcast the previous Halloween where hypnotist Lee Knight demonstrated that people could be induced to do anything, including murder. The dead woman's daughter, Katherine Taylor, is convinced that the hypnotic suggestions of a year ago are what caused her father to kill her mother and that Knight is responsible. When she is found dead however, the case takes yet another turn. Meanwhile, Dalziel undergoes hypnotherapy to quit smoking. |
May 6, 2007 |
| 2 |
Demons on Our Shoulders (2) On Halloween, Kate Johnson is killed in her bedroom, the victim of a shotgun blast. Her husband Guy is the obvious suspect, having now disappeared. In an odd twist, the couple had been part of a television broadcast the previous Halloween where hypnotist Lee Knight demonstrated that people could be induced to do anything, including murder. The dead woman's daughter, Katherine Taylor, is convinced that the hypnotic suggestions of a year ago are what caused her father to kill her mother and that Knight is responsible. When she is found dead however, the case takes yet another turn. Meanwhile, Dalziel undergoes hypnotherapy to quit smoking. |
May 13, 2007 |
| 3 |
Project Aphrodite (1) As the body count continues to rise, Dalziel and Pascoe continue to focus their investigation on Lee Knight. Knight continues to maintain his innocence and says he's being set up by someone. The police uncover that most of the principals are involved in witchcraft of one sort or another. As the victims' bodies are being dismembered, they believe the killer is set to perform some type of ritual. Pascoe believes Knight is innocent and the true killer is someone who is well-known to Andy. |
June 14, 2007 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | BBC One |
|---|---|
| First aired | March 16, 1996 |
| Last aired | June 22, 2007 |
| Runtime | 60 minutes |
| Status | ended |
| Schedule | Friday at 21:00:00 |