Wha's like us... Taggart

SOMETIMES reaching an acceptable compromise can be murder. Happily for fans of STV's flagship drama series Taggart, executives at the commercial channels have proved that it is not impossible.

One of the nation's favourite detectives was the innocent victim of a power struggle between ITV and STV, which saw the Scottish-based producer banning network programmes from the schedules.

Perhaps not the most astute business move as ITV, the network giant, provided at least part of the finance for the series.

However, hatchets seem to have been buried and the good news is that another six episodes of Taggart will hit the screen later this year, probably in the autumn.

And, as a footnote, STV has emerged from the drama as equal partners in the production, no longer reliant on ITV for all of the necessary finance.