Murder Investigation Team: Series 1

Spun off from The Bill and styled after CSI, this gripping series tracks London's elite Murder Investigation Team. Detectives Vivien Friend (Samantha Spiro, A Little Night Music) and Rosie McManus (Lindsey Coulson, EastEnders) lead an otherwise all-male team solving eight gruesome murders: a drive-by shooting, a girl's body encased in concrete, a boy whose heart was cut out, a teacher's apparent suicide, abducted red-haired women, an undercover police officer infiltrating a pedophile ring, and a journalist researching the Bangladeshi community after an argument with a white supremacist.

Season 1, Episode 1: Moving Targets
Original Air Date-3 May 2003
DI Vivien Friend leads the team in the investigation of a drive by shooting that results in two deaths. The first victim is police Sgt. Matthew Boyden who had been on the scene as the result of an anonymous call to the police reporting a mysterious package on the street. The second victim is identified as Dwayne Edwards, a known credit card thief who worked on the periphery of organized crime. Not knowing who was the intended victim, the police thoroughly investigate both individuals. They learn that Boyden was a ladies man who was having fling with a DI's young daughter. As well, his estranged daughter is a crack cocaine addict. When forensic evidence proves Edwards to have been an innocent bystander, the question is whether Boyden's murder was an attack against the police or the result of something more personal.

Season 1, Episode 2: Daddy's Little Girl
Original Air Date-10 May 2003
The team investigates the death of a 19-year-old girl whose body is found encased in concrete at a building site. The girl had disappeared three years previously and the case had been the subject of a great deal of publicity. They initially focus on Paul Wainwright, a heavy drinker with a history of violence and who was a regular at the pub run by the dead girl's parents. He was at the pub the night she disappeared but drank so much he blacked out and has no recollection whatsoever of events. When they find forensic evidence in his car linking him to the dead girl, most of the team think they've solved it, but DI Vivien Friend isn't so sure.

Season 1, Episode 3: Rubbish
Original Air Date-17 May 2003
DI Friend and the team investigate the murder of a young boy who is found in collected refuse. The autopsy reveals that the boy had his heart cut out. Although no children have been reported missing, they manage to trace the victims parents who are from West Africa and have sought sanctuary in a church to avoid deportation. They thought their children were in the care of a nanny selected by their pastor, but it seems they had run away. The focus of the investigation quickly shifts to finding the victims younger brother.

Season 1, Episode 4: Reading, Writing and Gangbanging
Original Air Date-24 May 2003
The team investigates two inter-related deaths. In the first a teacher, Martin Ramsay, either jumped or was pushed out of the upstairs window of his house. In the second, a tramp is found floating in the river with his head bashed in. From the evidence and the time line, it appears that the tramp may have come across Ramsay's body, helping himself to his shoes and his wallet, but it is unlikely he had anything to do with his death. Suspects in Ramsey's death include his wife, who was divorcing him; a fellow teacher, Kirsten Hughes who was ending her relationship with him; and Raoul Jimenez who had been harassing him for some time. As the investigation progresses however, the police discover a completely different motive arising from activities at his school.

Season 1, Episode 5: Red Heads
Original Air Date-31 May 2003
The MIT investigates the murder of Penny Wake who is found by the river. Forensic evidence shows that the woman was strangled and had been dead for several days and that the body had been moved. The killer also went to great lengths to clean the body before disposing of it. They immediately focus on the woman's husband Neil Wake, who says he has been away from home for a week or so on business but it turns out, was actually on leave having spent a few days with his girlfriend. The investigation takes a different turn when a second abduction victim, Kathy Monroe, is found wandering the streets in her underwear. The key however is that both women had red hair.

Season 1, Episode 6: Lambs to the Slaughter
Original Air Date-7 June 2003
The team investigates the murder of Dominic Morton a pedophile who was recently released from prison. He's found in his home stabbed and emasculated the result, the police believe, of vigilantes. When they identify calls made from Morton to a Peter Taylor they also find that both men look exactly the same. The puzzle becomes a mystery when they are unable to locate Morton's victims or any probation records for him. When they learn he was an undercover police officer trying to infiltrate a pedophile ring, the police start looking for a rent boy he was trying to get information from. The case comes full circle when they learn another police officer may be involved.

Season 1, Episode 7: Models and Millionaires
Original Air Date-14 June 2003
The squad investigates the murder of Natasha McKay, found dead on the banks of the Thames. She was severely beaten but actually drowned. Natasha was an attractive woman who modeled in the soft porn industry and had frequently been a page 3 girl. Her wealthy property developer husband has a cast-iron alibi for the time she disappeared but DC Rosie MacManus has her own reasons for pursuing him, which causes DI Friend to question her judgment. The investigation focuses on Simon Crookshank, a friend from her schooldays as the police conclude they were having an affair.

Season 1, Episode 8: The Bigger the Lie
Original Air Date-21 June 2003
The team investigates the murder of Ellen Merrick, a freelance journalist who is found dead in an alleyway. She was badly beaten and her throat was cut. She was having an affair with Dave McQueen, an editor for a major newspaper but he was a philanderer who had many affairs, including one with a Deputy Assistant Commissioner with the Met. Ellen was researching the Bangladeshi community in East London and was known to have recently had an argument with a white supremacist. Members of the local community are also reluctant to work with the police and one in particular has good reason not to. One of the team meets an untimely end.

Directed by Nigel Keen, Gary Love, Ged Maguire, Michael Offer
Written by Paul Marquess, Jake Riddell, Avril E. Russell
Produced by Tom Cotter
Executive Produced by Paul Marquess
Original Music by Paul Stacey
Cinematography by Walter McGill, Sean Van Hales
Film Editing by Belinda Cottrell, David Head
Costume Design by Tracey Ewen, Robert Lever