Tara FitzGerald reprises her role as Dr Eve Lockhart from Waking The Dead this Autumn alongside Keith Allen (Robin Hood) as Detective Inspector Hale in The Body Farm, BBC One’s new six-part crime drama series.
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The Body Farm centres around the work of a team of scientists, led by Eve Lockhart, working at the cutting edge of forensic detection. Their base is a remote farm from which, with the aid of donor bodies, they conduct research on behalf of Police forces around the world into the many ways in which murders can be committed and sometimes disguised.
As the harsh economic climate eats into their funding, and the Home Office’s own forensic facility falls victim to cutbacks, Eve accepts DI Hale’s offer for The Body Farm to leave the hidden world of academic research for the visceral front line of murder detection. Eve, of course, is no stranger to murder in its many forms, but her new team find themselves rapidly thrust into an unexpectedly brutal new world.
The cast also includes Wunmi Mosaku as expert botanist Rosa, Mark Bazeley as Eve’s old flame and business partner Mike, and Finlay Robertson as Forensic medicine PhD Oggy.
Episode 1
Tuesday 13th September 2011, 9pm
Dr Eve Lockhart is one of Britain’s leading forensic pathologists and runs a state-of-the-art forensic research facility called The Body Farm with her business partner Mike Phillips. Theirs is the only facility in the country using real human body-donors to examine the complex and fascinating journey the body goes through as it decays and returns to the earth.
When Eve gets a call from DCI Craig Hale asking for her help investigating an unusual crime scene, she sees an opportunity to bring much needed funding to The Body Farm, but her decision to work with the police on real crime scenes will take her team out of their comfort zone.
The team includes Rosa Gilbert and Oscar “Oggy” Traynor, who are both gifted young scientists but their previous experience is strictly academic. They quickly discover that dealing with real people who are suffering in the aftermath of crimes is a lot messier than any of them expect.
Eve and the team encounter a crime scene in a derelict tower block which is both disgusting and fascinating. Human remains splattered all over the walls of a small flat. They soon find evidence that local teenagers have been using the tower for wild parties. The team begin to suspect that the human remains are connected to the attempted suicide of a young girl weeks before.
Using all the cutting-edge techniques they have been developing on The Farm, Eve and the team discover the cause of the blast which destroyed the bodies of two young men, and uncover the secrets hidden deep with the victims.
Episode 2
Tuesday 20th September 2011, 9pm
When the severed hand of a young male is found close to Harold Penton’s estate, Hale is convinced that Penton is guilty of rape and murder.
A wealthy business man, Penton is also a recluse and very keen to protect his privacy. His bodyguard, Jimmy West, does his best to prevent Hale from getting too close, insisting, along with Penton’s doctor, that he is too ill to be questioned.
Eve and the team use forensic evidence to move forward in their investigation and although they make a compelling discovery, they still struggle to prove who is responsible for the young male’s death.
Episode 3
Tuesday 27th September 2011, 9pm
A body is found dead in the water. The body is identified as Connor Ryan, a 35-year-old male. He was part of the crew of a trawler in a small fishing community.
Eve is brought to the harbour to examine the body. Hale explains the rest of the crew are also missing. On board with Connor was skipper, Patsy Fay, and Tom Wilkes, a marine biologist.
They discover the boat was originally hired by Wilkes to collect samples for a study of local waters, but Hale, Eve and the team soon realise all is not what it seems. They work together to investigate the unusual disappearance of the crew and determine the cause of Ryan’s death.
Episode 4
Tuesday 4th October 2011, 9pm
Eve and the team are called to a women’s prison to carry out tests on the body of an inmate – Beth Fox. The body has been found badly bruised, injuries which would indicate that she has been beaten to death. However, Eve suspects something even more sinister has happened here.
Following the discovery of the body a serious riot has broken out which makes it difficult for the team as they try to gather evidence. Panic in the prison continues to spread and Eve is under great pressure to discover what happened to Beth before the press get involved.
As they investigate further, Oggy becomes obsessed with one inmate in particular and Hale realises that an escaped prisoner could be a serious danger to the public. The team are frustrated as each one of their theories is proved wrong until, finally, Eve makes a truly shocking scientific discovery which throws the Home Office into a panic and catapults the team into a frantic race against time.
Episode 5
Tuesday 11th October 2011, 9pm
The Body Farm team are called in to investigate the death of prominent human rights lawyer Richard Warner. Warner died in a fire at his home but it is not clear if the fire was set deliberately, so the team analyse the severely burned body without knowing the cause of the fire.
Warner had recently been visited by one of his old clients, Joseph Marial – an asylum seeker from Sudan who had been deported a year earlier after he was found guilty of assault. Warner defended him but was unable to get him acquitted. Warner’s son, Nick, is convinced that Joseph must be responsible, but there appears to be no proof.
In a race against time Oggy, Mike and the team reconstruct the fire in their lab to try and establish more information about the blaze that killed Warner. Their findings bring fresh evidence to light.
Episode 6
Tuesday 18th October 2011, 9pm
The team are called to look at the death of Ray Quinn, who was killed in what looks like a robbery at a classic car garage. The owners, Mick and Martin Flannery, are keen to clear the scene so that they can open for business again, but after an initial investigation, Eve is convinced that there is more to the case than a robbery gone wrong.
Hale visits Ray’s home. Ray is from a travelling community who are very suspicious of the police and refuse to tell Hale anything – they say they will deal with Ray’s death themselves.
Eve and Hale later discover that a young girl, Amanda, is also missing and possibly in danger. Eve must earn the trust of Ray’s family by showing them that she is a scientist and only motivated by finding justice for Ray. If they pursue their own justice then the truth about what happened may remain hidden for ever.
Are you enjoying the series? How does it compare to Waking The Dead? Let us know below…