Tim Bayliss

Timothy "Tim" Bayliss
Det. Timothy "Tim" Bayliss
First appearance	January 31, 1993 (1x01, "Gone for Goode")
Last appearance	May 21, 1999 (7x22, "Forgive Us Our Trespasses") (HLOTS) February 13, 2000 Homicide: The Movie
Created by	Tom Fontana
Portrayed by	Kyle Secor
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Homicide Detective
Title	Detective
Family	Virginia (mother), George (uncle); Jim (cousin); Curt (deceased cousin)
Spouse(s)	N/A

Timothy "Tim" Bayliss is a fictional detective 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 the real-life Det. Thomas Pellegrini from David Simon's book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, though the real detective was reportedly not at all a fan of his fictional alter ego. The character also appeared in the Law & Order episode "Charm City."

Born on May 31, 1960 in Baltimore, MD, Tim had a difficult and often contentious relationship with his family. However, that became the very reason he strongly valued family loyalty. Growing up he was very close with his cousins Jim and Kurt, whom he considered his brothers. In Season 3, after Jim shot and killed a Turkish exchange student, Bayliss tried to shoehorn himself into his partner Frank Pembleton's investigation despite warnings by Lt. Al Giardello to stay out of it. Pembleton learned that Kurt was killed during the Persian Gulf War, an event that may have played a role in the shooting. Jim and Kurt's father (Tim's uncle) was extremely racist; Jim claimed that the first time he ever heard racial slurs were out of their father's mouth. The case went to a grand jury, which voted not to indict Jim. In the fourth season, he briefly mentioned having a six-year-old niece. At 16, he had a bad experience with magic mushrooms; terrified, he cried for eight hours and ate fifty Snowballs. His undergraduate minor was in drama.

In Season 5, Bayliss revealed to Pembleton that he had been molested as a child by another of his father's brothers, George. When he told his father what had happened, the elder Bayliss accused him of lying. From that point onward his relationship to his father was mostly hostile and remained so until his death. He told Det. Mike Kellerman 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.