Now, I'm not familiar with the North American versions of these types of shows so I have little basis for comparison, but what struck me most about this series was the balance that was struck between science, character, and plot in the scripts. The science is important of course, because that's what the characters use to solve the mysteries and it's the evidence upon which the plots turn. Yet it's not the be all and end all of the shows, and it's also shown to be as fallible as the people who use it, as easy to manipulate as any other type of evidence, and not the great miracle for crime solving that it sometimes is made out to be.

Science is important to the plots because that's what the lead character does for a living. Yet instead of only having it used as the means by which the mysteries are solved, the plots deal with the various problems that face forensic scientists when actually trying to solve a crime. Evidence that appears black and white in a laboratory, ends up not being any use in court. A fingerprint proving somebody's presence at the scene of a crime doesn't necessarily make them the culprit because there is no way of dating when the fingerprint was left. Was the blood that spattered the coffee cup with the finger print sprayed there at the same time the finger print was left, or did it happen some time later?

Of course what's most important in all of these dramas are the characters and DNA is no exception. When we meet Joe Donavon (Tom Conti) he has been retired from the force for a number of years, and we find out that he hadn't left under the best of circumstances. He had made an error on his last case that resulted in both someone's acquittal and his own nervous breakdown. He's now a successful writer, but still not fully recovered from his breakdown. When faced with stressful circumstances he dissociates to such an extent that he doesn't remember where he was or what he did for great stretches of time.

Donavon is called out of retirement because a murder occurs and not only does the crime scene look exactly like the one which caused his mental breakdown, his name is written in blood on the wall of the victim's apartment. As Donavon is slowly drawn back into the world of police work, we are introduced to his wife and son, and see how both his job and his health issues have impacted upon their lives and the relationship he has with each of them. He is still suffering from dissociative episodes so severe that when a second body shows up in the exact same circumstances he can't be sure that he's not the culprit. That both men turn out to have been his wife's lovers only makes him more of a suspect.