First, let me start off by saying I love this ITV British television crime series. McDonald & Dodds takes place in Bath, a beautiful English city which is about 100 miles from London.
Detective Chief Inspector McDonald (Tala Gouveia) is transferred from London to Bath – where she is ready to take on the world. She wants to move up the police ladder. Unfortunately for her, she is forced to partner with Detective Sergeant Dodds (Jason Watkins). The Chief Superintendent (James Murray) wants to force Dodds to retire since Dodds still works in a very deliberate and outdated mode. Dodds doesn’t use a computer for research since he much prefers going to the library to gather his facts. He also is a paper and pen note taker, etc. All of this irritates McDonald – but the Chief Superintendent is so determined to put an end to Dodds’ career that he refuses to let McDonald off the “make-him-retire” hook. Needless to say, Dodds is quite quirky…
McDonald is quite different than Dodds. She’s a very modern detective and is quite good at heading her small group of investigators. She is very ambitious and expects a lot from her officers.
All of the actors do great jobs portraying their unique characters. The writing is smart, the plots are interesting, and the setting is absolutely beautiful. I very much recommend McDonald & Dodd. It is currently aired on BritBox.
Spoiler alert: The show doesn’t force the two main characters to remain locked into their quirky vs. exasperated personalities. The two main characters actually evolve.