Tyne Daly played the other half of the dynamic duo, Mary Beth Lacey. The Yin to Cagney’s Yang, Mary Beth was a devoted wife and mother who symbolised the dilemmas of wanting to pursue her career while being a mother to two boys, and later a girl.
Lacey is much more cool-headed and intuitive than her partner Cagney, always choosing to think rather than shoot her way out of tough situations. Her soft-spokenness and reserved nature often allows Cagney to steal the limelight and credit for their cases, however, Lacey never resents her partner for this as if it weren’t for Cagney, Lacey would’ve been stuck working at the desk.
Coming from a working-class background, Lacey is a hard worker and also has a strong sense of duty to her family. Through Lacey, we are able to explore the struggles and fears that came with raising a family in the 1980s, such as troublesome neighbours, her teenage son becoming exposed to drugs, and having young children during the AIDS pandemic.
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