David Boreanaz

I know what you’re thinking - not another forensic science series about the people behind cops and paramedics! Not another show that delves into what happens when the cameras stop rolling, and the crime tape comes down! How many different sides of crime scene investigation can producers come up with? What different test tubes will they be experimenting with in this show?

Yes, Bones is another dramatic take on the science fiction adventure that takes place behind the scenes when a crime is committed. The one thing that separates Bones from other forensic shows out there today is the fact that the show is based on a series of books, and inspired by a real life forensic anthropologist and novelist, Kathy Reichs.

Reichs is a best-selling novelist, who writes mystery novels, and also lectures at the University of North Carolina. She also works for the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (you know, the key office in all forensic shows), and the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciares et de Medecine Legale (the French version of the same thing), in Quebec.

Being one of only fi fty forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Directors, you can be sure that her books are full of all the juicy stuff that’s edited out of most forensic shows. Until now. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why ntv7’s new show is different from the other forensic shows out there today.

Bones is based around the heroine in Reichs’ books, Dr Temperance Brennan. Brought to life by actress Emily Deschanel, Brennan works at the Jeffersonian Institution and writes novels as a side project. Brennan’s scope of interest extends from the test tube and laboratory, and includes medical investigation. Think of her as a cross between a medical examiner and a CSI team member in heels.

She also has an uncanny ability to read clues left behind in a victim’s bones. Because of this ability, the cops call her in to assist with murder investigations when the remains are so badly decomposed, burned, or destroyed that the standard identifi cation methods are useless.Well, they do say it takes a woman to really discover your true self.

As always, the friction sets in when Brennan is teamed up with Special Agent Seely Booth, played by everyone’s favourite evening time drama king David Boreanaz. Booth is a former Army sniper who mistrusts science and scientists when it comes to solving crimes.

And of course, this leads to tension between the two of them, as they try to work together to solve the latest criminal dilemma, while keeping their flirting at a purely professional level (eg just enough to keep the ratings soaring).

Of course, no good forensic/medical examiner is without an equally good team of scientific oddballs. Brennan’s equally brilliant colleagues at the Jeffersonian’s Medico-Legal Lab include earthy and bawdy Angela Montenegro, who’s created a unique way to render an original crime scene in a three dimensional computer image.

There’s also Brennan’s assistant Zack Addy, a young prodigy whose genius IQ actually gets in the way of his finishing the several doctorates he’s begun.

The bug guy, Dr Jack Hodgins, is an expert on insects, spores and minerals, but conspiracy is his hobby. And the whole team is held together by Brennan’s boss, the imposing and dominating lab director Dr Daniel Goodman.