Blue Murder centres on a single mother of four, DCI Janine Lewis (
Caroline Quentin), trying to balance a demanding career with raising her young family, while constantly battling with her former husband, who has since started a new family of his own. The series was created by Cath Staincliffe, a novelist and radio playwright. Staincliffe pitched the idea for
Blue Murder to
ITV and a two-part first series was commissioned by the network. The first series began broadcasting on 18 May 2003. Due to strong ratings, a second series of four episodes was subsequently commissioned and began broadcasting in 2004. Staincliffe was principal writer for the first two series, with
John Fay, Jeff Povey and
Matthew Hall also contributing scripts for the second series. The fifth and final series debuted on 7 September 2009. The series was regarded by the cast as the best series yet, and Quentin described the series as having "finally cracked it". The final series included a number of guest stars
Mark Benton,
Lee Boardman,
Kieran O'Brien,
Brendan Coyle,
Heather Peace,
Tina O'Brien,
Sylvia Syms and
Anthony Flanagan. ==Cast==