Murder Investigation Team

Murder Investigation Team was a British police procedural drama/cop thriller series produced by the ITV network as a spin-off from the long-running series, The Bill. The series recounts the activities of the Metropolitan Police's Murder Investigation Team, who are led by D.I. Vivien Friend (Samantha Spiro) and D.S. Rosie MacManus (Lindsey Coulson). The series, also starring Diane Parish, Steven Pacey (best known for playing Del Tarrant in the 1970s sci-fi drama Blake’s 7) and Michael McKell, produced 12 episodes between 3 May 2003 and 1 August 2005. In September 2005, The Sun reported that ITV would not be commissioning a third series. Background Like The Bill, Murder Investigation Team was filmed in the London Boroughs of Sutton, Merton and Greenwich. Locations included the former Woolwich campus of the University of Greenwich. The first series debuted on 3 May 2003, and ran for eight episodes. This series was filmed with the working title Think Murder, and was produced by Tom Cotter. The first episode featured the team investigating the death of one of The Bills most popular characters, Sgt. Matthew Boyden, who was killed in a drive-by shooting. Several members of The Bills cast also appeared in the episode. The first series also featured guest appearances from such actors as Gary Kemp, Paul Bown and Bradley Walsh. After a two-year hiatus, a second series of four episodes debuted on 11 July 2005. All four episodes had previously been broadcast in February 2005 in Australia. This series features the re-appearance of DC Eva Sharpe, who joined the team, transferring from the CID office at Sun Hill. Each episode in series two was extended by half an hour and was produced by ITV's head of drama, Johnathan Young. Cast and characters