The Welsh detective Noel Bain (Philip Madoc) has the unenviable position of often believing that he is right about who did the crime, even when everyone else thinks that he has lost his mind. In each ninety-plus minute episode, Bain goes up against a mystery, and a criminal, that is both dark and fearsome. Like a less bumbling Columbo, he goes into the brave battle with these villains, struggling with motive, evidence, and, finally, the last confrontation with each culprit.

Bain goes tries to solve the murder of a prostitute in the middle of a coal mine strike, searches for the murderer of a young mother (and uncovers a pornography ring), crosses a cult, invades a farming community, gets taken hostage, and clears himself of murdering his latest fling. All of this occurs in the busy life of the police detective who has lost his wife and seems in danger of losing his resentful daughter to her own devices and police work as well.

I'm always drawn to police dramas and whodunits that keep me wondering&ellips; whodunit. As the average American show seems predictable and trite, I've turned to British crime shows to make me wonder about bigger issues, and to seek more of a thrill with mysteries that keep me guessing. To some degree, A Mind To Kill provides me with the opportunity to wonder and attempt to solve the mystery myself. But unfortunately, Madoc's Bain doesn't pull off the same intrigue and wonder that someone like Cracker or Rebus does.

Bain pulls off the widowed, clueless father better than he does persistent bulldog of a police officer. I'm just not clear what Bain has going for him besides his persistence. What clues does he put together? How many times can he be right about the culprit before his bosses start to elevate him over inept people who can't solve crimes? Why are the criminals or the peripheral characters (like the judge and his mistress who are foolishly trysting in the woods by a murder) so much more interesting? The crimes are peculiar and sick, but somehow, they've made Bain boring and dull for the most part.

Still, I give Bain credit for being righteous in the face of adversity, and persistent in the face of conflict, evil, and disbelief. It's the sort of "faith" or resolve in the truth that makes heroes like Bain worth watching. Even if the acting is a bit off at times and the hero isn't quite what I'd hope for, the show still passes for better (circa the mid-1990s) than watching Law & Order: Newark or whatever the reruns are of old Jerry and Jesse gruffing it out in New York.