PREVIOUSLY RELEASED CONTACT: Pam Slay, 818.755.2480
January 31, 2005 Sheri Helmers, 818.755.2490
THE VERDICT IS IN -- ‘MCBRIDE’ IS BACK;
FIVE-TIME EMMY® WINNER JOHN LARROQUETTE RETURNS
IN THE HALLMARK CHANNEL MYSTERY MOVIE FRANCHISE
“Murder Past Midnight” Premieres February 4
Five-time Emmy® Award winner John Larroquette returns as tough-minded, tender-hearted cop-turned-attorney Mike McBride in “Murder Past Midnight,” a Hallmark Channel Mystery Movie franchise premiering Friday, February 4 (9/8c). McBride also stars Marta DuBois (“L.A. Law”) as Detective Sgt. Roberta Hansen and Matt Lutz (“Murder Without Conviction”) as Phil Newberry.
Created by mystery master Dean Hargrove, the Emmy® Award-winning executive producer of “Columbo,” McBride revolves around one of television’s most compelling new characters – a rough-around-the-edges smooth talker whose laid-back lifestyle belies a razor sharp mind and dogged determination to uncover the truth.
Detective Sgt. Roberta Hansen (DuBois) is the no-nonsense plainclothes police detective who finds the flirtatious McBride arresting – but skittish. McBride’s young gumshoe partner and former public defender Phil Newberry (Lutz) is a gadget die-hard with the latest techno wizardry to help McBride sniff out bad guys. Jesse (Kuma) is McBride’s constant canine companion who remembers the days when a dog with a good nose could do the same thing.
McBride only takes the hardest cases, has a soft spot for the underdog, and possesses a unique ability to eliminate potential suspects through flashbacks that place him squarely in the scene of the crime.
In “Murder Past Midnight,” the maverick attorney finds himself in an unusual position – serving on the jury for an attempted murder trial. The accused is the beautiful young wife of an elderly – and very rich – businessman. And when her husband is found comatose in his bed – the victim of poisoning – all fingers point to the trophy wife. After the inexperienced public defender makes a muddle of the case, McBride, the champion of the underdog, takes the alleged gold digger on as a client.
McBride is a Hallmark Entertainment presentation. Robert Halmi, Jr. and Larry Levinson are executive producers. Dean Hargrove is creator and executive producer. Nick Lombardo, Amy Goldberg and Michael Moran are co-executive producers. Brian J. Gordon and Erik Olson are producers. “Murder Past Midnight” was directed by Kevin Connor and written by Dean Hargrove. The Hallmark Channel Mystery Movie is an Alpine Medien Production in association with Larry Levinson Productions.
Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming to a national audience of 75 million subscribers. The top tier program service is distributed through more than 5,300 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Hallmark Channel consistently ranks among the top 10 ad-supported cable networks in Total Day and Prime Time household ratings and is the nation’s leading network in providing family-friendly programming. Crown Media also operates a second 24-hour linear channel, Hallmark Movie Channel.
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