surname was never given) and her secretary, Alex Jordan (Paula Hunt). The series evolved, as a result, from a series of relatively unconnected one-off episodes to an overarching 'soap opera' complete with office romances. There has been controversy over Ed's surname - because he was never called anything other than "Ed", some people have taken his surname to be Russell, simply because he was addressed as "Dr Russell" in one episode. However, that was more likely a pseudonym, as both Ros and Beckett used plenty of false names throughout the series. The programme came close to cancellation at the conclusion of its third series, but due to an exciting cliffhanger ending deliberately included by the production team, and strong foreign sales, a fourth was commissioned. The final series suffered from being moved to an earlier timeslot on Saturday evenings, and for only having the first eight of its produced ten episodes scheduled for broadcast. Coupled with the Omagh Bombing forcing the BBC to postpone the series for a week, this meant that the concluding three episodes would not be broadcast until a year later. Another attempt to save the show by giving the series a cliffhanger ending was not successful, and the ending of the final episode — where Alex has just married boyfriend Adam, only to have him killed at the wedding and Ros and Beckett are abducted by an attacker unseen by the audience but recognised by Beckett — was never resolved. The series has something of a minor cult following in the UK. Overall 40 episodes were produced, ten in each of the four series. Virgin Publishing produced novelizations of the episodes of the first series, but these were not successful and subsequent episodes were not novelised. As of 2005, the series is available on DVD in series-by-series box set form, released by Revelation Films. A complete box set collection of all four series is also available. In 2022, the series became available on the BritBox streaming platform. Cast Jaye Griffiths as Rosalyn "Ros" Henderson Jesse Birdsall as Nicholas Beckett Craig McLachlan as Ed (Series 1–3) Jan Harvey as Jan (Series 3–4) Paula Hunt as Alex Jordan (Series 3–4) Martin McDougall as Lacombe (Series 1–2) Steven Houghton as Ed (Series 4) Gareth Marks as Jean-Daniel Marcel (Series 1–2) Michael Grandage as Channing Hardy (Series 3–4) Joseph May as Adam Mosby (Series 4) Episodes Series 1 (1995) Series