McCallum (1995–1998) User Reviews

What a series

[Sublevel4 · 9/10 · 21 December 2007]

As with some of the best films and series, I stumbled across this quite by accident. It was late, a storm was in full force outside and I was sitting comfortably on the sofa when I flicked past a channel that was just about to show one of the episodes. I intended merely to watch a couple of minutes while waiting for the commercials to be finished on another channel before switching back to some or other sitcom. About an hour and a half later I remembered my resolve and was so happy that I hadn't done that. Needless to say I made sure I saw all the other episodes.

John Hannah has been brilliant in almost everything I have seen him in and he does not let down here either. All other cast members do a stellar job too. My personal favourite (aside from John Hannah, of course) is Gerard Murphy.

The only negative side to this series are the limited amount of episodes. Only 8 with JH himself and an additional 1 with someone else. I would love to see McCallum back on the screens, though it would have to be with JH!

Music

[eppycenter · 7/10 · 17 May 2020]

Thanks to the Shazam app, I was finally able to identify the gorgeous intro & closing music to McCallum. It's a song called Country Memories by Guy Fletcher & Rod Williams. I've spent hours trying to ID this instrumental & finally I found it.

I cannot help wonder

[gwinegarden-24066 · 7/10 · 20 December 2020]

I like the series but have always wondered if Brits can recognise accents.

They keep indicating that Zara Truner's character is from Dublin. Now, there is no way that you can miss her Belfast accent, so why bother? Just doesn't make sense.

Cry Me A River

[tburgess · 12 November 1998]

John Hannah is nothing less than stunning in his role as forensic pathologist Ian McCallum. Whilst some have criticised him for a range of facial expressions that go from dark and thoughtful to dark and brooding he is perhaps the most entriguing of all characters to grace our small screens in recent years. At the start of the 1995 series we find Ian living with his long term partner Joanna, this relationship breaks down after McCallum manages to sleep with another detective who is subsequently murdered. McCallum is called in to investigate the death. McCallum fails to reveal that he was the last known person to have contact with the deceased and, as in many following episodes, McCallum is forced to break some rules in order to get to the truth of the matter. Ian McCallum manages to be both a "man's man" and a bit of a sex symbol, many blokes will be able to relate (or rather aspire) to McCallum's ability to go out to a bar, have a quiet drink and find himself returning home with a female companion under each arm (a la the Fonz in Happy Days). I should also mention at this point that there is yet to be one episode of McCallum in which we are not given a shot of John Hannah's naked behind, this may spur some of you on to watch it; likewise some will be deterred. I personally find myself indifferent to John Hannah's butt. Overall McCallum is an amazing program, each episode lasts roughly one hour and fifteen minutes. The situation between himself and Angela Maloney (Zara Turner) is resolved in the final episode of the 1998 series. Enjoy.

Great Show

[sheliawells825 · 10/10 · 1 March 2021]

John Hannah was excellent & so are the rest of the cast. I love British shows. They are good clean shows with not a lot of vulgar language, etc. I definitely recommend watching this show. I only wish there were more seasons. Three seasons is not enough...

Cancelled far too soon

[bobfeigel · 10/10 · 28 January 2023]

What a shame this series was cancelled after just two short seasons. While the US seems to run good television series into the ground long after they should have been cancelled, the British seem to do the opposite. I really would have liked to see a third series at the very least.

The story lines were inventive, edgy and gripping. The acting excellent. The characters believable and I was always left looking forward to the next episodes.

From what I read on the net when my curiosity about why it was cancelled took me to Google, I'm not the only one who is disappointed by the cancellation after only nine episodes. But I've yet to find an answer to my question: Why was it cancelled?

Solid But Not Outstanding British Procedural

[gpeevers · 6/10 · 24 April 2009]

The series is centered on Forensic Pathologist Dr Iain McCallum (John Hannah) who is a Scot working in London. He works on a team that is suitably quirky and dysfunctional but is also a very tight knit group. He drives a motorcycle, tangles with authority and has a somewhat tumultuous relationship life with his live-in girlfriend Joanna (Suzanna Hamilton). The stories are centered on criminal cases investigated by the Forensics and Pathology team working with the police.

The strengths of the series include a solid cast and some very interesting characters, of particular note is John Hannah probably best known for playing Jonathan in The Mummy and its sequels. The series also make very good use of the London locations, focusing mostly on the more rundown and disreputable areas. The morgue/forensics laboratory is appropriately dark and dingy, far removed from the hi-tech antiseptic look of most American procedurals.

The weaknesses as I see them seem to have to do with focus or direction of the series; it seems at times to want to concentrate on the cases and at other times on the character development and unfortunately for the most part it doesn't adequately service either. For me the cases also rely far too heavily on coincidence to connect McCallum closely with them. Less of a problem are the more typical complaints seen in procedurals, McCallum is involved in a great many criminal investigations and the police with whom he works seem to be constantly one step behind our hero.

One minor quibble in that some of the incidental music does not appear to be original, some of it sounds distinctly like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The series ran for nine episodes over two seasons

Comments on the last episode - Beyond Good and Evil

[dabotter3 · 7/10 · 10 October 2009]

I got this as a complete set of 9 episodes on 5 DVDs. I knew nothing about the history of the series. Season 1 of the series has the pilot episode as episode 1 and then 3 more episodes for a total of 4. Season 2 lists 5 episodes with the last being Beyond Good and Evil with an original Air Date of 7 December 1998. The other 4 episodes on season 2 were broadcast from December 1997 to Febrausry 1998. So Beyond Good and Evil looks like season 3 episode 1, except there are no more episodes in season 3.

Spoilers here. The two main characters of the first 8 episodes, Dr. Iain McCallum (John Hannah) and Dr. Angela Moloney (Zara Turner), are missing from this episode being replaced by Dr. Dan Gallagher (Nathaniel Parker) and Dr. Charley Fielding (Eva Pope). I recognized Nathaniel Parker from the series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, which began in 2001. So they were planning to have a season 3 but only one episode was broadcast.

It seems odd to try to continue a series named after the main character, McCallum, when the main character is gone from the series. So they might have been planning a return of Dr. Iain McCallum, but when that failed the series was canceled. I have no inside information on this but I do see that both John Hannah and Nathaniel Parker were involved in other projects in 1999. Does anyone have any information on this?

A Slow, Soap Opera Detective Series

[aphillips-43057 · 6/10 · 8 June 2019]

The first couple of episodes were pretty good, but things went down hill from there. McCallum's personal life became the focus rather than being a background element. I wonder if they didn't change writers: the plots became implausible. The pacing was slow. They appear to have tried to stretch material that suited a one hr. show into 1.5 hrs. Midway through the second season we abandoned the show. My wife and I wouldn't recommend it. There is no way that this show deserves the high rating that it has on IMDB.

One and done

[jastpeel-37-483655 · 3/10 · 9 August 2021]

Got through the first episode, tediously, and found no desire to watch the second.

I was unimpressed by the close ups that added nothing to the story. The videography was poor even by 1990s standards. Left a lot wanting.

Accents and Theme music Query

[harry-chandler · 6 January 2007]

I love this (all too short) series. I also enjoyed John Hannah in the few episodes he did of the 'Rebus' series. He was a probably a bit too young for that role ( I expected an older heavier kind of presence, one with more 'rough gravitas'). No matter, I really enjoy all his work, and that universally admired Scots accent is a big contributing factor. It's interesting that this is a role that has as the main characters a Scot(John Hannah) and and Irish lady (Zara Turner),with the whole show set in London! I suspect that the accents add a great of appeal to the show (and probably prompt a good deal of rewinding of some scenes to catch the meaning for many North Americans). This note is actually a query,because the opening theme music is a lovely guitar sequence, but I can't find out any more than that except that the music appears to be written by 'Daemion Barry'. Yes, but who played the theme tune? It's very evocative of an Eric Clapton style, but I'd love to find the actual recording of this tune. Any info welcome.

Not realistic

[scntyguy · 7/10 · 9 August 2020]

After Angela totally distrusts Iain, it is totally unrealistic that he could ever have a relationship with her again! Most men would have gotten as far away from her as possible!

Decent series, rotten title character.

[WaldoLydecker1 · 6/10 · 17 July 2020]

We know he's a rebel because he wears a black leather jacket and rides a motorcycle. We know he's independent, because he always goes against his colleagues. We know he has a Christ complex because he always thinks he's the only one who can find the truth. We know he's tortured because he's always scowling, plus he's touchy and becomes angry at the drop of a hat. We know he's in his sexual prime because he frequently has casual sex, and even lies about it immediately afterward to the woman he claims to love. Despite the fact that he swims laps every day, his pasty body is doughy and flabby, unlike the majority of the women he sleeps with. As portrayed by the hydrocephalic and only occasionally intelligible John Hannah, we wonder what anyone sees in him, not only why he has any lovers, but why he has any friends the way he abuses them. All this negates the interestingly convoluted stories and fine performances by the supporting cast of characters: the tough chief, the young whippersnapper, the intellectual, the party dude, the past-his-prime colleague, etc. In addition to the aforementioned scowling, Hannah's acting consists of squinting and working his jaw and mouth to indicate his narcissistic inner turmoil. No wonder this series didn't last any longer than it did. Perhaps with a more sympathetic leading character, it could have had a longer run.

Over the top storylines

[Cilica · 6/10 · 5 July 2022]

The 1st episode involves McCallum as a suspect in a colleges death, and later on he is suspected of murder again, and thus so many afterwards as 'creepy' people want to hurt him or people he loves or knows.

The series doesn't depict the real job of the coroner, this is fine but him being persecuted or on a tangent to find the murder is tedious.

The acting is sold, generally I like the series. I am not fond of the 'stories with stupid scenarios' in where the characters act irrational. Lets say I hit someone with my car when they run out in front of me, and who dies but don't want it investigated, I'll just take my punishment. Enough.

Excellent drama about forensic pathology.

[scottishheather · 24 November 2017]

I love this series, my only complaint being the brevity of it. I would have liked to see more episodes with this fine ensemble cast, led by John Hannah. The opening credits with the beautiful aerial views of London are stunning. I was prompted to write this to correct what is misleading in the Trivia paragraph about this show. It most definitely is set in London and not my beloved Edinburgh.

Relentlessly Dreary but Engaging Mysteries

[csdcsdcsd2003 · 7/10 · 22 July 2022]

I started watching McCallum via streaming so - many years after its original broadcast. These medical mysteries made in the early days of DNA analysis kept me engaged but I had problems with the show. (My husband refused to watch after one episode but I kept going.) In the first episode, the boy-coroner behaves like a teen while everyone else acts grown up but in the next, McCallum takes command of these same adults who behave like kids. Also (1) the pleasant theme song leads me to think the show is about a happy-go-lucky country veterinarian rather than a serious, touchy, horny medical examiner who vies with everyone in The Big City (2) McCallum zooms around the mean night streets on a motorcycle that doesn't seem suited to his demanding, high stakes, gloom-and-doom medical job (3) McCallum imagery is relentlessly dark and dingy - the graveyard shift explores unexplained deaths in dreary settings: dirty alleyways, shadowy exam rooms, cramped walk-ups, filthy windows, greasy drizzle falling on inky alleyways - then, after work, it's off to dark, noisy pubs to get falling-down drunk - yuk (4) the character Joanna spends too much time curled up on a sofa pouting, more like a plot device than a flesh-and-blood woman - so helpless she waits for the hard-driving McCallum to arrive on his motorcycle laden with groceries to feed her, as if she were his pet cat (5) I actually cringe to see the ill-tempered detective who, rather than speaking in normal tones must always snarl, bark and scowl, demanding impossibly fast results from everyone amid gruesome crime scenes, tenement hallways, morgues and police HQs. I can see why the show had so few episodes. A shame, really, because it does have its strong points: intricate plots, Fuzzy the scientist, the beautiful doctor Angela, McCallum's flashes of brilliance, exciting conclusions (though they do seem rushed with breathless explanations and sudden closing credits). I came to like John Hannah very much - a good actor - and plan to see his other appearances.