There was a scene in the series where it was revealed that most of the cops had nicknames, and it turned out that Karen Pirie's nickname was Ticker, ostensibly because she was chosen for the case because she ticked the right boxes -- they needed a female to lead the case so it looked like they were really concerned about the decades old death of this woman. Well the name was spot on but not for the reasons they had in the series but for how it was presented. Strong female lead? Tick. White men either incompetent, sexist, thugs or evil? Tick. Interracial relationships? Tick. Gay marriage? Tick. Disabled actor? Tick. The actual storyline may have been hopelessly weak and implausible but it definitely ticked all of the right boxes for a modern tv series. Nowadays it seems that it's what really matters.
Review of Karen Pirie
