''Duggan'' was a TVNZ

police drama The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eithe ...

from 1997, featuring

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

actor

John Bach John Bach (born 5 June 1946) is a British-born New Zealand actor who has acted on stage, television and film over a period of more than four decades. Though born in the United Kingdom, he has spent most of his career living and working in New Z ...

as Detective Inspector John Duggan and

Fiona Mogridge Fiona McLean, also known as Fiona Mogridge or Fiona Lee-Fraser, is a British former actress and TV presenter turned photographer. She was known to millions of viewers as schoolgirl Laura Reagan in the BBC school drama Grange Hill ''Grange H ...

as Ruth Duggan. Unlike other New Zealand police drama series, ''Duggan'' was initially intended to be produced as a series of one-off programmes, akin to British crime series of the time such as ''

Inspector Morse Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse, GM, is the eponymous fictional character in the series of detective novels by British author Colin Dexter. On television, he appears in the 33-episode drama series '' Inspector Morse'' (1987–2000), ...

'' and '' Midsomer Murders''. Two stories were filmed in this way, one each in 1997 and 1998, before the decision was made to produce a series of 11 episodes in 1999. All episodes except for the first two were one hour in length; the first two were two hours long.Davies, R.,
The birth of a Kiwi detective
" ''nzonscreen.com'' 2 June 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2019.

Premise

''Duggan'' follows the investigations of John Duggan, an initially retired

Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

Detective Inspector who becomes involved in various murder investigations near his home in the

Marlborough Sounds The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels. According to Māori ...

at the top of the South Island of New Zealand. As such, the show mainly takes place in the Sounds, Picton and

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

. Having retired from his job after the death of his wife, he is initially reluctant to resume his police work. However he is convinced back in the first telefeature, ''Death in Paradise''. Through the show he works to uncover complex murder plots against the backdrop of small-town New Zealand in the late 1990s. Ironically, production of the series was briefly delayed by a major real-life crime, the 1998 New Years Day murder of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope.

List of episodes

Introductory episodes

Season 1 (1999)

References

External links

*
''Duggan'' at nzonscreen.com
1997 New Zealand television series debuts 1999 New Zealand television series endings 1990s New Zealand television series Detective television series English-language television shows New Zealand drama television series TVNZ 1 original programming Television shows funded by NZ on Air Television shows set in New Zealand Marlborough Sounds {{NewZealand-tv-prog-stub