The first two series were written by Jimmy McGovern, excepting the fifth serial, "The Big Crunch", which was contributed by Ted Whitehead. Claiming that he had "nothing more to write about”, [1] McGovern originally planned to leave after the second series but was allowed to write the controversial rape storyline, "Men Should Weep", when he agreed to contribute a three-part story to the third series. Two of McGovern's stories, "To Say I Love You" and "Brotherly Love" (from the first and third series respectively), received Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. Each serial had a different director, with the exceptions of "To Be a Somebody" and "True Romance", both directed by Tim Fywell. Freemake is a name synonymous with powerful, high quality freeware, and Freemake Video Converter doesn't let the side down. Its free DVD ripper boasts a clean, clear interface that we found to be a joy to use during our tests, and you're never left feeling in any doubt about what you're meant to do.

To emphasise how fine a line the police (and Fitz) walk in their close association with criminals, all three series featured several stories in which the police become victims of crime or themselves commit criminal acts such as rape, obstruction of justice and assault and battery.

If it's your first time ripping DVDs, user-friendliness is top priority so choose a ripping program that's incredibly simple to use. That's without sacrificing features that will come in handy. Ready-made profiles will be useful, as are different available video formats. Unfortunately, although it doesn't contain extra bundled software, the latest version of Freemake Video Converter adds a watermark to ripped videos. If you can live with that, it's one of the most convenient DVD rippers around. WinX DVD Ripper can be used to rip directly from DVDs, but it also works with ISO images, and folders of DVD files. During testing, we found it to be an utter delight to use with an easy-to-understand interface that shouldn't feel intimidating to even beginner users. A young girl missing for several days is discovered naked, covered in strange symbols and quoting the Bible. The trail leads to a fringe Christian sect and its charismatic leader, Kenneth Trant.

For example, it can be useful if you want to extract the video files from a disc and maintain their original formats when transferring them to your hard drive. You're then free to import the files into another program for further work if you want, or just use your favorite DVD software to watch the videos without the need for a disc to be inserted. When the older Stuart Grady meets the teenage Bill Nash, the instant attraction between the two leads to murderous consequences. Meanwhile, the birth of Fitz's new son is not the solution to his marital strife that he expected, and Judith begins to seek solace with Danny. A young boy, Timothy Lang, is found hanged in a nearby wood, drawing the ire of the city, and the main suspect is Tim's school teacher, Mr Cassidy.Albert "Albie" Kinsella Jr., a divorced and bitter manual worker, murders a Pakistani shopkeeper - the police, and Fitz, must find out why. While it is among the best free DVD ripper out there, we did find the free portion to be rather limited during testing, allowing you to rip discs in Full Disc or Main Movie modes only. This means that the free version is nowhere near as versatile as the other programs we've covered here, but it still has its place. Paul Abbott, who had produced the second series, wrote the remainder of the episodes (including the feature-length special "White Ghost"). Abbott later went on to create several high-profile dramas, including Touching Evil (1997), State of Play (2003) and Shameless (2004). Another crew member, Nicola Shindler, who worked as script editor on the programme, later went on to found Red Production Company. It's Barbara Flynn as Fitz's wife who makes the strongest impression; she doesn't exactly put up with his crap but never quite walks away from it, either. By the time the 2006 TV rolls around she's reach a kind of semi-acceptance of Fitz's failings, to a point. They make a fascinating and believably real couple.

With the police closing in on him, Sean targets Tina's family in revenge for Tina's harsh upbringing, while Fitz pleads with Tina to cooperate with them before Sean goes too far. DS Giggs is killed by Sean and Tina, who send the police a video of their intentions beforehand. Fitz recognises Sean from a previous encounter and lures them out. Tina accosts Fitz at a bar with the intention of murdering him, but she is caught and arrested, while Sean flees.While in Hong Kong on a lecture tour, Fitz is asked by the local police to help investigate the murder of a Chinese businessman. Each case spanned several episodes and cliffhangers were quite often used, but it was not until the end of the second series that a cliffhanger was employed to tie off the series. Some of the plotlines in the cases took as their starting point real events such as the Hillsborough disaster, whilst others were purely fictional with only tangential ties to actual events. Fitz is drawn into a Bonnie and Clyde story when two young social outcasts, the mentally unstable Sean Kerrigan and the insecure Tina O'Brien, find each other and go on a crime spree. Acorn Media's boxed set includes all 23 original episodes (11 story arcs, told in two- and three-part shows), plus the two subsequent TV movies, produced in 1996 and 2006. Also included is a 45-minute documentary about the series created to promote the 2006 TV film. Amelia Bullmore (Series 1.5, 1.6) and Isobel Middleton (Series 2.1, 2.3, 3.1) as Catriona Bilborough