NO MEAN CITY

I've never watched an episode of Taggart. Not even back in the day when there was someone actually called Taggart in it. Since it's set in Glasgow and it's the longest running police TV show in the UK (the first episode was broadcast in 1983) - the longest running English language police TV show in the world actually - you'd think I'd have seen at least one. I'm more familiar with police procedurals set in Baltimore than I am with any in my home city. Of course I'm aware of it, just the same as several other TV shows I've never watched (like Inspector Morse or Cracker or Hollyoaks or Dancing on Ice); it's hard to live in Britain today without picking up something about such elements of popular culture. I get what someone's on about if ever they say, "There's been a murrdurr" for example. I've listened on more than one occasion to Alex Norton talk about Taggart on BBC radio 5 Live (most recently, within the past few weeks) which he does very entertainingly by the way, never taking himself or the show too seriously. That's never made me think that I must sit down and watch an episode though.

I don't really know why I decide to watch my first ever episode tonight. Maybe it's because it's Burns Night and I feel like something Scottish. I should be marking OU assignments. But I was just flipping through the channels and went with it - and what a one to pick!

It's episode 106, "Silent Truth", first broadcast October 2010 (misleadingly described in the programme synopsis as being "set in and around the lofty portals of Glasgow University"). An Iranian asylum-seeker family is at the centre of an investigation following the violent death of their eldest son, who is found dead in a back alley, having been dowsed in petrol and set alight. On the way to meet the family for the first time, DCI Burke (Alex Norton) asks DI Reid (Blythe Duff) if the family are Muslim, she replies "Don't know." When the father of the family says he was a teacher in Iran, that after the revolution he'd been sacked from his job and his property confiscated, that they couldn't go back because they'd be persecuted for their beliefs ... well, I begin to wonder.

Burke, Reid and co might be trying to find the killer but I'm engaged on a different investigation. As the clues emerge, you hardly need the skills of a TV detective to work out which religion the family appear to follow. The name "Bahá'í" is never used, of course. And thank goodness for that, what with the murder, robbery, blackmail, homophobia, racism etc that fills the screen. (Well it is Taggart after all.) Some of it is perpetrated against the family, but they are responsible for some of it too.

Shortly after the half hour mark, there's a memorial meeting held at the scene of the murder. As DI Reid approaches the scene, we hear the following prayer being read. It's one by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, read in English (although the book being used isn't any Bahá'í prayer book I recognise).

O Thou forgiving Lord!

Although some souls have spent the days of their lives in ignorance, and became estranged and contumacious, yet, with one wave from the ocean of Thy forgiveness, all those encompassed by sin will be set free. Whomsoever Thou willest Thou makes a confidant, and whosoever is not the object of Thy choice is accounted a transgressor. Shouldst Thou deal with us with Thy justice, we are all naught but sinners and deserving to be shut out from Thee, but shouldst Thou uphold mercy, every sinner would be made pure and every stranger a friend. Bestow, then, Thy forgiveness and pardon, and grant Thy mercy unto all.

Thou  art the Forgiver, the Lightgiver and the Omnipotent.

That pretty much clinches it, I'd say. Case closed.

While the show is still playing, I exchange a few messages on Facebook with a knowledgeable friend, asking if he's watching (no) and if the institutions of the Bahá'í community knew about this episode (yes). From this brief chat I understand that some protestation was made to the production company while this episode was in development. I wonder what kind of concessions were granted and if there will be any fallout from this for the Bahá'ís in Glasgow, Scotland, the rest of the UK - Iranian or otherwise? I recall, a long time ago, someone saying at a conference or convention or the like that the Bahá'í Faith could be said to have emerged from obscurity in this country when it featured in mainstream TV, in soaps, drama, comedies and the like. Maybe this is a step in that direction. It can be taken to show that the message of Bahá'í It's not exactly an accurate depiction of the beliefs, culture, attitudes of Iranian Bahá'ís (in this country or anywhere else) and there's no sense at all that the family are part of a faith community, that there would be others of their religion who'd be involved in their lives. But hey - it's Taggart. You could say that while it's not accurate, it's sympathetic; at least within the parameters of the Taggart universe. There are some parts of this episode that I like: the portrayal of Glasgow as a genuinely multicultural city; that the city benefits from the variegated nature of its people; that everyone has the right to live peacefully and be protected. There's a clever, sensitive, heroic and attractive Diversity Officer. I like that especially! Some elements of the Bahá'í experience have been scooped up and squished together with the conventions and tropes of the TV policier into a blob of fiction that, for most viewers, passes an hour-and-a-half in entertaining fashion then barely sticks in the memory.

When does any group or community - religious, political, social - ever think it's been fairly represented in fiction? I used to get vexed over fictional depictions of the Open University years ago, when I was a student with it. I feel more bemused by this evening's Taggart, but not vexed. Older and wiser now I guess - with a better understanding of how all this stuff works. So-called "reality" shows can be bad enough (at the same time on another channel was the deplorable "Big Fat Gypsy Weddings") never mind when it's in something made up. At least it shows that the message has got across that Bahá'ís are being persecuted in the land which is the cradle of their faith.

You can watch this episode of Tagggart on the ITV Player:

http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=taggart&#intcmp=791961_123_1

If you'd like to be kept informed of the situation of the Bahá'ís in Iran, follow this link to the Muslim Network for Bahá'í Rights - which describes itself as being run by Muslims defending the rights of the Bahá'í minority in Muslim-majority countries: http://www.bahairights.org/ They tweet as @BahaiRights.

Oh and while we're on the subject of Glasgow, I'm writing this blog with the telly on in the background, showing "Pleasure and Pain". The presenter, Michael Mosley, has recorded a short segment of the programme in Edinburgh. "According to a recent demographic study," he says, "it is home to the most miserable people in Britain." Nuff said!