Dempsey and Makepeace (1985): Fast Cars, Choppy Bobs & Fatal Attractions

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In this episode of The Problematic Gaze, we turn our attention to “Love You to Death” (TX 1985) from Dempsey and Makepeace — the glossy Anglo-American crime drama that paired hard-boiled NYPD import James Dempsey with aristocratic British detective Harriet Makepeace.

“Love You to Death” trades on seduction, jealousy, and lethal obsession, but beneath its high-concept crime plot lies a fascinating web of gendered power dynamics. We explore how the episode frames female desire as dangerous, how male volatility is coded as charismatic rather than threatening, and how the camera lingers — inviting us to participate in a distinctly 1980s televisual gaze.

What does this episode reveal about transatlantic masculinity? How does it negotiate Makepeace’s professional competence against Dempsey’s swaggering authority? And in a decade obsessed with glamour and excess, where does romance end and possession begin?

Join us as we unpack the aesthetics, performances, and cultural assumptions embedded in this stylish slice of mid-80s prime-time drama — and ask whether “Love You to Death” is simply a product of its era, or a case study in how television taught audiences to look, desire, and judge.

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