Taggart star

How we put foot in it over crime scene

In the foreword to Andrew’s book, actor Alex Norton – who played DCI Matt Burke in Taggart – reveals how Blythe Duff interrupted her husband’s murder investigation to ask a question during filming.

Alex said: “We were having a debate with the director about whether we would be allowed to simply walk all over a crime scene without overshoes on in case we contaminated the evidence.

“Since Blythe was married to a real-life detective inspector, we persuaded her to call him on her mobile and ask his opinion.

“The conversation went something like this, ‘Hi darling, it’s Blythe. We’re just having a discussion about whether we would be wearing overshoes when examining a body at a crime scene…oh, I see. Thanks and sorry to have bothered you.’

“The side of the conversation we didn’t hear was Blythe’s husband saying he couldn’t really speak as he was standing in a car scrapyard just a few feet away from a decapitated corpse and had to get on with trying to locate its missing head – and, no, he wasn’t wearing plastic bootees…”

Alex, who starred in the hit STV crime drama for eight years, is full of praise for Andrew’s book.

He said: “Truth, as the old cliche has it, is often stranger than fiction.

“And after reading the reminiscences of some of the real Taggarts, I think you’ll find yourself viewing your favourite TV cop show through a fresh pair of eyes and agreeing with me that you really couldn’t make it up…”