One mother of a cop: VisionTV to air acclaimed UK mystery series Blue Murder

Caroline Quentin stars as Manchester homicide cop and single mom DCI Janine Lewis

DCS Hackett: These injuries are quite horrific … Is a woman really capable of this sort of thing?

DCI Janine Lewis: Oh, you’d be surprised, sir.

In the squad room, they call her “Boss.” At home, they just call her “Mum.”

Award-winning actress Caroline Quentin (Men Behaving Badly, Jonathan Creek, Life Begins) stars as Manchester homicide detective and harried single mother Janine Lewis in the critically acclaimed UK police drama Blue Murder.

As the series opens, a pregnant Janine has been abandoned by her unfaithful husband and left to deal with their three children on her own. Newly promoted to Detective Chief Inspector, she must also lead the investigation into the grisly murder of a local teacher – a case that quickly takes a series of surprising twists.

Blue Murder premiered on Britain’s ITV1 in 2003 and proved an immediate hit. Its first season earned a 37 percent share of the viewing audience, making it one of the network’s top-rated dramas for the year. The show’s fifth season made its UK premiere in September 2009.

The key to Blue Murder’s success is its unique blend of procedural and domestic drama. The demands of her job and the pressures of the home front force DCI Lewis to keep up a delicate balancing act. Whether tracking a cold-blooded killer, confronting her ex-husband or dealing with her pre-teen daughter’s sudden conversion to vegetarianism, she needs compassion, smarts and a sense of humour to make it through the day.

VisionTV presents all five seasons of Blue Murder on Monday nights at 9 pm ET/6 pm PT.

Caroline Quentin has twice won a British Comedy Award, for her work on Life Begins and Men Behaving Badly. She has said of her role on Blue Murder: “I totally admire the character of Janine because she’s really up against it with the demands of her job and family to look after, but she just manages to hold it all together.”

The cast also includes Ian Kelsey as Janine’s loyal second-in-command DI Richard Mayne, Nicholas Murchie as street-smart DS Tony Shap and Paul Loughran as earnest DS Ian Butchers.

The series was created by acclaimed British mystery novelist Cath Staincliffe. For more on Blue Murder and her other projects, check out www.murdersquad.co.uk.