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Scarpetta

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Scarpetta

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Summary

Nicole Kidman headlines a crime thriller named after forensic pathologist Dr Kay Scarpetta, the crusading character immortalised on the pages of Patricia Cornwell's series of books dating back to 1990. Written for television by Liz Sarnoff, Scarpetta allows the present and past to collide head-on by pursuing dual timelines from Scarpetta's early years as a chief medical examiner in the late 1990s to a current murder investigation. Scarpetta (Kidman) believes that she can provide a voice to victims and uphold justice using modern forensic science and her gut instinct. She returns to her hometown to resume her former position as Chief Medical Examiner while investigating a grisly murder, 28 years after the career-making case that could also prove her undoing. As she follows the evidence, Kay navigates a tricky relationship with her sister Dorothy Farinelli (Jamie Lee Curtis), draws strength from her tech-savvy niece Lucy Farinelli Watson (Ariana DeBose) and seeks professional alliances with Detective Pete Marino (Bobby Cannavale) and FBI profiler Benton Wesley (Simon Baker).

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Review

David Brown

Long before Amazon got into smart speakers and food shopping, it was a bookshop in your laptop. So, of all the streaming services, it’s the one most likely to be in tune with what you’d read. Hence their current knack for adapting page-turning thrillers into hit dramas.

Take Jack Reacher — he was an imposing presence in paperbacks prior to swaggering onto to the screen. Same with Alex Cross. And now medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, in the form of Nicole Kidman, is making the leap from bedside tables to TV.

Of the three, she’s had the longest gestation period, with writer Patricia Cornwell’s first Scarpetta novel, Postmortem, having debuted in 1990. Since then, forensic science has advanced and technology surged. To acknowledge the character’s history, this series cleverly runs on a dual timeline, with Kay seen at the beginning of her career in the 90s and in the present day, where she’s investigating a murder with possible links to the past…

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6.1/10

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Cast

rolenameKay ScarpettaNicole KidmanDorothy FarinelliJamie Lee CurtisPete MarinoBobby CannavaleBenton WesleySimon BakerKay Scarpetta (Past)Rosy McEwenPete Marino (Past)Jake CannavaleBenton Wesley (Past)Hunter ParrishLucy Farinelli-WatsonAriana DeBoseBlaise FrugeTiya SircarJanet WatsonJanet Montgomery

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Season 1

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