Merseybeat is a British television police procedural drama series, created and principally written by Chris Murray, first broadcast on BBC One on 16 July 2001.

A new closing theme was introduced, while each individual episode opened with a different musical number, including tracks from the likes of The Mock Turtles, Travis and Cast.

[6] A more "gritty" approach to the series was also taken as part of the revamp, with the introduction of the station's Criminal Investigation Department, led by Mark Womack, formerly of Liverpool 1 as DI Pete Hammond.

[6] For the first three series, filming took place mainly in the Cheshire towns of Widnes and Runcorn (both within the Borough of Halton), including other locations within Merseyside - making frequent use of local landmarks such as the Silver Jubilee Bridge and Fiddlers Ferry power station.

The second series introduced three new main characters into the cast - probationary PCs Jodie Finn (Josie D'Arby) and Jackie Brown (Joanna Taylor), as well as new custody Sergeant Mark 'Pepper' Salt (Bernard Merrick).