Tim Bayliss

Timothy Bayliss is a fictional character on Homicide: Life on the Street, played by Kyle Secor and one of the few main characters to last the entire run of the show. He was loosely based on real-life Baltimore homicide detective Thomas Pellegrini, featured in David Simon's book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, though Pellegrini was reportedly not at all a fan of his fictional alter ego. The character also appeared in the Law & Order episode "Charm City." Childhood and early life Born on May 31, 1960, in Baltimore, Maryland, Bayliss had a difficult and often contentious relationship with his family. Growing up he was very close with his cousins Jim and Kurt. In Season 3, after Jim shot and killed a Turkish exchange student, Bayliss tried to shoehorn himself into his partner Frank Pembleton's investigation. Pembleton learned that Kurt was killed during the Persian Gulf War and that Kurt and Jim's father was racist. The case went to a grand jury, which voted not to indict Jim. In Season 4, Bayliss briefly mentioned having a six-year-old niece. His undergraduate minor was in drama. In Season 5, Bayliss revealed to Pembleton that he had been molested as a child by one of his uncles. When he told his father what had happened, the elder Bayliss accused him of lying and the relationship remained hostile until his father's death. Bayliss told Det. Meldrick Lewis that he was once arrested for protesting U.S. policy in El Salvador when he was a teenager, a story idea that Secor reportedly disdained as out of character for Bayliss. It was quickly discarded in favor of the character developments for Seasons 5–7, including his abuse history and religious journey. Religion Unlike several characters in the series, religion was not important in Bayliss's family background. When asked, he stated he had been raised "mutt." In this case that meant his family attended several different denominations, most of which could be termed "Mainline Protestant," but they had no attachment to any of them. Bayliss states that he was baptized into the Presbyterian Church and confirmed in the Episcopal Church. He briefly joined Unitarian Universalism for a girlfriend, but seems to have not been particularly sincere about it. He converted to Buddhism in the final season but eventually lost faith.