Helmsdale Police Station.

Michael (Mike) Nash.

Born: Ilkley, West Yorkshire. Rank: Detective Inspector.

Mike Nash was a highly talented detective, a rising star in the Metropolitan police. Following a particularly gruesome case involving a sadistic serial killer, Nash turned down the chance of promotion and returned to his native Yorkshire. He hoped returning to his roots would bring peace of mind. He was right, to an extent, but although the pace of life is slower, the crimes prove no less horrific. His skills are tested to the limit by a series of violent crimes that threaten to ruin his plans for a more relaxed lifestyle. Nor is his secret ambition to settle down made any easier by his one weakness, a seemingly unquenchable thirst for female company. That is, until....?

Clara Mironova.

Born: Minsk, Belarus. Rank: Detective Sergeant.

When Clara was six years old, her parents left Belarus, where her father had been a junior government minister. He had disagreed with the then President over policy matters and it was made plain he was no longer welcome. They settled on the outskirts of Leeds, where her father is a university lecturer. A tall, strikingly good-looking blonde, Clara enjoys her work in Helmsdale CID. A much liked member of the team, she takes her pleasure in ‘winding-up’ Mike and Viv. A love interest is in the background, but what will the future hold? Her one weakness, as Nash constantly reminds her, is her inability to make a decent cup of coffee.

Viv Pearce.

Born: Bradford, West Yorkshire. Rank: Detective Constable.

Vivian St. Aubyn Pearce is named after two of his Antiguan father’s cricketing heroes. He carries his name and ancestry with quiet pride. His days off will find him either watching, or playing cricket, or on his computer. As the junior member of the team he is slowly developing his own niche, using his excellent computer skills to the team’s advantage. He also makes far better coffee than Clara! But, as Nash says, ‘That’s not difficult!’

Netherdale HQ.

Gloria O’ Donnell.

Born: Kendal, Cumbria. Rank: Chief Constable.

Known irreverently and affectionately as ‘God’, she is one of Nash’s closest allies. She will defend him when necessary, and chastise him with a twinkle in her eye. She conducts a perennial battle to provide sufficient resources for her overstretched force, a battle she never seems quite able to win given the continuing financial restraints imposed from government on rural policing.

Tom Pratt.

Born: Leeds, West Yorkshire. Rank: Chief Superintendent.

Tom is firm but fair; always supportive of his men and on hand when required. Everyone’s idea of a Chief Superintendent. A fatherly figure and now coming close to retirement, Tom allows Nash to handle most of the major crime investigations, aware that Mike has more experience and intuitive ability.

Jack Binns

Born: Netherdale, North Yorkshire. Rank: Sergeant.

Sergeant Jack Binns is a reliable, hard-working leader of the uniformed men under his command, and a vital liaison with CID. His dry, slightly sarcastic humour hides his determination to maintain the local force’s exemplary record.

Lisa Andrews

Born: Netherdale, North Yorkshire. Rank: Detective Constable.

Lisa is transferred back to her home town on loan during the series, and is immediately plunged into the thick of the action, into danger, and into trouble with Internal Investigations Branch. Despite this inauspicious start, Lisa stays on to become another key member of the team.

Pedro Ramirez

Born: Madrid, Spain. Occupation: Professor of Pathology.

Ramirez, curt of manner and highly sarcastic, is a first-rate pathologist. Nicknamed ‘Mexican Pete’ after a character in the infamous rugby club favourite, The Ballad of Eskimo Nell, Ramirez taunts Nash throughout by accusing him of necrophilia in his ability to scent out corpses. He takes pleasure in making occasional passes at Clara, but as Nash tells her, ‘all pathologists are perverts.’