Murder Call (1997)
Murder Call was an Australian television series, created by Hal McElroy for the Southern Star Entertainment and seen on the Nine Network between 1997 and 2000. The idea to the series was born by the books of Tessa Vance by Jennifer Rowe: Suspect/Deadline and Something Wicked. Both books were integrated as episodes in the TV series. The series dealt with the cases confronted by an unconventional team of homicide detectives, Tessa Vance and Steve Hayden.
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Episode 1 - Dead Offerings
Release Date: 1999-04-21Tessa and Steve investigate when a young blind man is found dead in a swimming pool.
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Episode 2 - Evil Chances
Release Date: 1999-04-28A sports teacher is found impaled at a boarding school and is found by Fisk's older sister. Tessa and Steve investigate, but Fisk is frustrated when his sister is interviewed, and he is excluded.
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Episode 3 - Tongue Tied
Release Date: 1999-05-05A mutilited body is found near a church, with identical markings to the victims of a serial killer 15 years ago- Thorne's first case. Experiencing a sense of deja-vu, Thorne heads the investigation. Has the killer returned, or is this a copycat crime?
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Episode 4 - Dying Day
Release Date: 1999-05-12Steve and Tessa investigate when a young woman is found hanging from a tree limb in a popular city park, and Tootsie's preliminary findings indicate it was not suicide.
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Episode 5 - Death in the Family
Release Date: 1999-05-19A vagrant is found dead at an inner city underpass surrounded by the corpses of poisoned sparrows. When Tootsie diagnoses death by strychnine, Tessa, Steve and Thorne fear that someone is out there trying to purge the streets of the homeless. But the investigation takes a twist after Fisk finds $10,000 hidden in the vagrant's mattress.
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Episode 6 - Death Down Market
Release Date: 1999-06-02When a woman is found murdered in a neighbourhood that is terrorised by a local gang, Steve and Tessa are called in to investigate.
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Episode 7 - A Blow to the Heart
Release Date: 1999-06-16Tessa and Steve are called in to investigate a series of murders revolving around a prominent bio-chemistry lab.
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Episode 8 - Bad Business
Release Date: 1999-06-30Tessa and Steve investigate what appears to be a routine case, but soon uncover a dangerous web of blackmail and righteous fanaticism.
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Episode 9 - Hide and Seek
Release Date: 1999-07-14Following the suspicious death of an elderly worker, Tessa and Steve must race against time to avert another tragedy growing from the ruins of the first.
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Episode 10 - Booming Business
Release Date: 1999-07-28Tessa and Steve uncover a web of intrigue surrounding businessman Brian Hart's horrific death when he is killed as he commutes to work by train when a letter bomb concealed in a card explodes. Tessa and Steve are confronted by a bewildering array of suspects and motives to finally apprehend the person they believe to be the killer, only to realise at the last moment that they only have it half right.
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Episode 11 - Cut and Dried
Release Date: 1999-08-04Tessa and Steve investigate a murder where nothing is as it seems.
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Episode 12 - A Stab in the Dark
Release Date: 2000-08-14When horror novelist Sebastian Tombs is found lying dead with a knife in his back, Tessa and Steve must investigate the four people closest to him, each of whom has a strong motive for committing the murder.
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Episode 13 - Grave Matters
Release Date: 2000-08-21As a crypt is opened for an interment, the funeral goers are shocked to discover the sarcophagus already occupied by the corpse of a young woman holding a rare orchid in her hand.
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Episode 14 - Paid in Full
Release Date: 2000-08-28A man's body is found floating in a spa, a large roll of cash stuffed into his mouth. Steve and Tessa discover that almost everyone who knew him had a reason to kill him.
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Episode 15 - Last Act
Release Date: 2000-09-04A busker suffers from hallucinations while performing mime outside a train station. When he collapses and dies, Tootsie's autopsy points to poisoning.
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Episode 16 - Scent of Evil
Release Date: 2000-09-11A woman is ripped to shreds by savage dogs on the grounds of an empty house. Steve and Tessa must determine whether her death was an accident, or if the dogs were trained to kill by someone with a grudge and a vicious streak.
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Episode 17 - Still Life
Release Date: 2000-09-18At the opening night of his exhibition, artist Vincent Osborne's head is discovered inside his own death mask.
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Episode 18 - Absent Friends
Release Date: 2000-09-25While attending a school reunion, Tessa is called to a homicide on the school grounds. The victim is one of her friends — stabbed in a reenactment of a Muckup Day prank, leaving Tessa as either a suspect, or another possible victim.
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Episode 19 - House of Spirits
Release Date: 2000-10-02Tessa and Steve investigate when a psychic conducting a séance in a storm-swept house is shot dead by the ghost of the man he was trying to contact.
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Episode 20 - Done to Death
Release Date: 2000-10-09The cleaner at an up-market beauty parlour makes a gruesome find — the proprietor strung up in a tanning booth and roasted like a pig-on-a-spit. Tessa and Steve's investigation uncovers a wealth of secrets and resentments harboured from birth.