In Praise of ... Detective Constable Rachel Bailey
Brit Grit. Rachel Bailey. Television. Suranne Jones. Scott and Bailey.
One of my favourite TV bad girls is a cop. Of course, crime fiction – whether it’s in books, films or on television – is over-populated with strong-willed, impulsive, foul mouthed, chain smoking, heavy drinking, bed-hopping cops. But with Detective Constable Rachel Bailey, in the gritty British TV series Scott & Bailey, that cliché is given a kick up the jacksy because the cop in question is a woman.
Rachel Bailey – a firecracker of a performance from actress and series co-creator Suranne Jones – is a wild card, indeed. From the offset we see she’s trouble. She’s having a fling with a barrister and risks losing her job when she uses the Police National Computer to check up on him. Discovering that he’s married, and that she’s pregnant, she blackmails him into letting her live in his swanky apartment. She later commits perjury and jeopardises a murder inquiry.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Paul D. Brazill to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.