Bull

Season 3 Universal Channel (*117) 20:00 Drama (See sidebar)

Where we left off: Bull suffered a heart attack, and Benny dealt with a serial killer case.

Episode 1 Cable is missing, and Bull’s team of investigators are stunned when he announces who they’ll represent for their next case.

Season 3 Universal Channel (*117) 20:00 Drama

Courtroom consultant and psychologist Jason Bull (Michael Weatherly) returns for season 3 of Bull (2016-now) with his team, ready to help solve criminal cases using brainpower – literally. When season 2 ended late last year, Bull won a trial, walked out of the court and calmly dialled 9-1-1 to tell them that he was having a heart attack. “I read the script and thought we were being cancelled,” says Michael, who played Agent DiNozzo on NCIS (2003-now) from 2003 to 2016. They weren’t axed and season 3 is a goodie!

Episode 1 starts a few months after Bull’s health issues and he’s completed his rehab for alcoholism as well. “This is a big step, having put his alcohol demon in his past,” says Jason. Bull has a strict new health regime and it’s a surprise for his friends. “As any of us who’re confronted with a life- changing event, you have this moment to look at everything in your world and fix it.”

The problem for Bull is that temptation is always there, and even his work isn’t enough to keep him distracted. He does have an unconventional method of staying sober that will be commonplace in season 3, says the actor. “He gets in a taxi and pays the cabbie to drive him around all night. That way he can stay away from bars and also map out his mental landscape.”

While Bull is based on TV shrink Dr Phil McGraw (Dr Phil, 2002-now) and his early career, Michael says that the heart attack and drinking is fictionalised. “You can’t have a perfect hero. There has to be a flaw. Bull’s is drinking. And it gets the better of him more than once.”