| |
| Name | Jackie Reid |
| Portrayed by | Blythe Duff |
| Rank | |
| Duration | 1990 - 2010 |
| Relationships |
Brian Holmes (deceased, 2001-2003) |
| Family |
- Joycelyn (aunt) - Jamie (cousin) |
| Hometown | Garsden, Lanarkshire |
Biography[]
Detective Inspector Jacqueline "Jackie" Reid (Blythe Duff) is now the longest serving member of the team. Reid made her first appearance in 1990, as a Woman Police Constable in Death Comes Softly, the only time she is seen in uniform.
In 1994, Jackie was promoted to Detective Sergeant much to the dismay of Jim Taggart. It the episode Crossing The Line, she revealed she is from Garsden. In The Ends of Justice, she was promoted to Detective Inspector with Jackie feeling she was finally ready.
She was trained in self-defence, which is why she defended herself both times when she faced deadly confrontations with two killers. In Penthouse and Pavement in 2003, she caught the person that killed Jason Randall and Debbie Thompson and the killer tried to attack her, but she banged his face against the shutters of a shop repeatedly, leaving him with a bloody nose. Then in "Lifeline" in 2008, the killer broke into Jackie's home unexpectedly when she came home from buying dinner. They discussed the past and why he was after her. He tried to grab her to attack her, but she grabbed his arm, and broke it, leaving him badly injured on the floor, weeping.
Characteristics[]
Personality and appearance[]
In Taggart, Jackie is shown to be a hard-working and loyal policewoman, and married to her job. She is bright,
Jackie Reid in Mind Over Matter
kind and generous and often handles the sensitive side to the investigations she and the Taggart team are working on. This example can be seen in the 2010 episode, The Rapture, when she has to tell a friend of hers that her daughter has been murdered. Jackie is just as tough as any other of the men on the team and she too sometimes comes out with sarcastic remarks.
There are times throughout the programme when Jackie can be hard as nails, but Jackie is shown to have her emotional side as well, such as in the episode Death Trap (2002). She is devastated when her boss DCI Michael Jardine is found on the mud flats at Langbank and goes to sob in the ladies after Burke accuses her of trailing Mike's corpse around.
Relationships with other characters[]
DCI Jim Taggart []
Jackie Reid first met Detective Chief Inspector Jim Taggart in 1990 in the episode Death Comes Softly where she started off as a Woman Police Constable.
A young WPC Reid meets Jim Taggart
This is the only time she is first seen in uniform and in the next episode, Rogues Gallery, she is seconded to CID. Over the series Taggart seemed to become fond of her and treated her even better than his own daughter. In Hellfire, Jackie turned up in tears at the Taggart household after going undercover in order to honeytrap Greg Martin, their main suspect and Jean Taggart told him that she knew it was a stupid idea.
DCI Michael Jardine[]
There was a hint of attraction between Jackie and Michael right at the beginning and although they didn't get together, they remained good friends, each of them pursuing their own relationships. In the episode 'Death Comes Softly' they even held hands to try and convince two girls who are stalking Jardine that they were a couple. They continued to hold hands after the girls had left so it was clear that there was something there between them at that time, yet to develop into anything more. However, after seeing them glancing at each other the next morning, Taggart told Jardine that if he got any more friendly with her, he'd get transferred to another station and wouldn't be able to work with him anymore.
When attending Jardine's funeral, she describes him as the best friend she ever
Jackie sings in the choir with Michael in Death Comes Softly
had, and "a brave and honest man." She ends the eulogy with "I loved you." though it is unclear whether this was meant platonically or not.
In the episode 'Dead Reckoning', Michael saves her life by jumping into the waterfall after punching the culprit into a pool of water. This episode ended with Jackie about to say something to Michael after he saved her life, but she ended up just saying thanks as an afterthought.
In the episode 'Berserker', another Inspector called DI Skinner had to share Michael's office due to his being flooded, and after making derogatory comments about Jackie, Michael punched him so hard he flew off his chair. Neither of them would tell Superintendent McVitie what the argument was about but it was clear that Skinner showing an interest in Jackie had riled Michael somewhat.
Jackie later married DCS Brian Holmes and Michael seemed genuinely happy for her, though some viewers thought that Jackie didn't realise that she really loved Michael until after he was dead. In 'Fire, Burn' Jackie finds the body of a woman's husband, the woman later comments to Jackie that it seems she has no idea what it is like to lose someone, to look back on the last day you saw them and realise that you would give anything to be able to say something. At that point, Jackie excused herself and went off in tears, that comment having obviously hit home.
DC Stuart Fraser[]
Reid and Fraser are two of the closest members on the team, and by the Burke era, after Jardine's death, they have known each other the longest. She first meets him when he is a naive young rookie in the episode Black Orchid, and grows to like him as she works with him to prove her boss's innocence.
Reid is the first person in the team to realise that Stuart is gay, and is the most accepting, keeping his secret for as long as possible until it was absolutely necessary for him to come out in the episode Angel Eyes. While Jackie had no problems with his sexuality, Jardine found it difficult to cope with - although McVitie told him to "unbutton it a little!". She fights his corner throughout the episode, even going round to a suspect's house to warn him off harrassing Stuart.
In Wavelength, Stuart is the first to congratulate her when she gets engaged, and when the team were celebrating her and Brian's engagement, Stuart is the one to tease her that she couldn't hide away all night. She said in reply, "Stuart, don't you dare!" He attends her wedding in Falling in Love, and was obviously happy for Jackie and Brian, but it was unknown whether he saw that Robbie wasn't.
Jackie is shown to be fiercely protective of Stuart, and is upset and curt with her boss Burke when he suspends Stuart for a mistake in An Eye for an Eye. She keeps pushing until she proves that Stuart is actually an innocent victim, and visits him at home during his suspension to provide support.
She even covers for him in A Study in Murder, when he seems to be off his game, and he reveals to her that he is distracted because he is adopted, and trying to cope with work while dealing with findign his biological mother.
At the end of Local Hero, when Jackie was sitting on her own on a bench, Stuart was the only one who asked if she was OK after she was left devastated by the death of Harry Wallace, who died in her arms after the real killer was revealed.
Pathologist Dr Stephen Andrews[]
Jackie would have no doubt met Dr Stephen Andrews in the first episode, Death Comes Softly and he is rather fond of her - he even mentions at one point that while he can be jolly and impersonal when other corpses are on his slab, if Michael or Jackie were "laying there" he'd be tremendously upset.
DCI Matthew Burke[]
Most of the time, Reid has a good professional relationship with the current head of the team, Matt Burke. However things got off to a rocky start in their first episode, Fire, Burn. Burke is dismissive and curt towards Jackie as he tries to stamp his dominance on the team, while Jackie is still grieving over Jardine's death and finds Burke's manner aggressive. It is only when the two have to dismantle a bomb together that respect is finally won over.
DI Robbie Ross[]
Jackie first meets Detective Inspector Robbie Ross in the episode A Few Bad Men where she comments that he's not bad looking and obviously has a sense of humour. The two have a "will they, won't they?" relationship which is focused on across several episodes of the programme throughout the Jardine era.
In Fearful Lightning, Jackie is in for a nasty shock when Robbie invites her round for a meal at his place. Not only is he seen buttoning up his shirt but he also has his girlfriend Francesca with him, who had previously appeared in A Fistful of Chips. Then he asks her to join them for dinner. That dinner was meant for her in the first place and it was clear that she wasn't just planning to leave straight after dessert. Jackie tells him to just forget it and he chases her to the front door.
However, in Wavelength, Robbie is less than happy when she announces to the team she is to marry DCS Brian Holmes from the Complaints and Discipline Department. The fact that she is actually getting engaged to someone else hits him hard and he tries to talk her out of it by telling her she's rushing into marriage too quickly. At the end of Falling in Love Jackie is in the middle of saying her wedding vows when she looks up at Robbie on the balcony with Michael and it is clear that she is having doubts but carries on anyway.
In Safer, Jackie stops him from beating up Kevin Nash when he sees him assaulting his wife. She tells him, "Violence is violence, Robbie. I thought you would've known that." Later in Grass, she helps him to retrieve his contact book when it is stolen. In the 2007 episode Genesis, the two are forced to share a flat together. In the episode The Caring Game when Robbie is forced between staying in Glasgow or emigrating to Canada with his ex-wife Gaby and their son Jamie, she advises that he's better off with his mother.
In the more episode Bloodsport the two are seen sharing a passionate kiss. However, they are only undercover in order to convince a suspect they are a couple and by the final episode of the twenty-seventh series, they are still not together.
DCS Brian Holmes[]
Jackie and Brian Holmes in Ghost Rider
Jackie married her husband, Brian Holmes on the 1st January 2001. She first meets Brian in Edinburgh on a Financial Crimes Course in Ghost Rider where she also spends the night with him. In the episode Wavelength, Jackie announces their engagement, although DI Robbie Ross seems to be less than happy about it. Certainly even more so when Brian was the one who investigated him for corruption in Skin Deep. When he was investigating Robbie for corruption, Jackie revealed that she'd been to see Robbie, in spite of being told to keep away from him. Brian told her she couldn't do that. But Jackie simply told him that if she was him, she wouldn't let jealousy compromise the investigation. She was also furious with him for not telling her about the situation earlier. In the episode Football Crazy, she and Brian enjoy a day off at the local fo
Jackie gets married to Brian in Falling in Love
otball field. Their wedding was shown in the episode Falling in Love, where she also appeared to have doubts about marrying him.
Yet it was the episode Fire, Burn, however, that appeared to mark the beginning of the end of their marriage. Brian doesn't give Jackie enough time to grieve in spite of the fact that it has been a month after the death of her beloved boss, Michael Jardine. He also inisted that she leave Glasgow in favour of a desk job in London, or another domestic arrangement; he should've known by now that Jackie is not the type of woman who can be told what she can and can't do.
They later separated and divorced in 2003. Stuart informed Robbie of this in the episode Halfway House.
In the episode A Death Foretold, it is revealed that Brian is dying of terminal cancer in a hospice and he has asked her to keep quiet about it. He also told her that if he hadn't been too busy concentrating on his career that they might still be married, while she muses that they seem to have become closer than ever before as a result of his illness.