CSI: Ireland; AGENT QUIGLEY IS ON THE CASE AS EXHIBITION BASED ON HIT SHOW COMES TO DUBLIN.

Byline: MAEVE QUIGLEY

IT'S ONE of the biggest TV shows in the world, broadcasting to millions of viewers in more than 180 countries every week.

And now Irish fans are getting the chance to solve their own case as the official CSI tour comes to Dublin.

CSI: The Experience is an interactive exhibition which allows budding forensic detectives to examine the evidence in three murder cases as part of the Las Vegas department.

So in the interests of science, I signed up to be part of Gil Grissom's team to see if I could uncover a killer like Sara Sidle or Catherine Willows.

A quick investigation led me to Christoph Rahofer, creative director of CSI: The Experience who told me the exhibition had been created in conjunction with the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History in Texas.

He said: "The exhibition has already travelled around America and over 1.5million people have taken part.

"Dublin is only the second European city that the CSI Experience has visited."

The interest in the show has created an interest in forensic science that has been captured by the exhibition. Visitors learn some scientific principles and real inves-tigativtechniques. From DNA analysis to toxicology, visitors can crack cases along with input from your favourite CSI characters, brought to you on screens during the course of your investigation.

But Christoph does advise that the budding detectives are 10 years old or over. And for the faint-hearted there is a crime to solve that doesn't involve too much blood or gore.

So after a quick talk from my new boss Gil Grissom, I was sent - as Agent Quigley of course - to a crime scene where a skeleton had been discovered.

I was handed a pen and clipboard and told to search for clues around the body - was this accidental, suicide or homicide? And who did this mystery skeleton belong to? Once I had gathered my evidence I took it back to the lab where, alongside Greg Sanders, I examined what I had found.

Who owned the mysterious clump of hair found near the body? And what were those strange black grains scattered alongside? After more deductions I took myself off to the autopsy room where Dr Al Robbins showed me the areas of the skeleton he felt pointed to a homicide. He told me: "The manner of death was homicide, the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head."

Finally I was brought before Grissom again to give my findings to the great man - but if you want to know the gritty details, you'll have to go investigating yourself.

But it is safe to say I'm now Grissom's number one student and a fully fledged member of CSI Ireland. And like every other successful investigator to the exhibition, I have the certificate, signed by Gil Grissom, to prove it.

CSI: The Experience is on at Dublin's Ambassador for the next four months.

But I'd advise fans to get their tickets as soon as possible - if you miss this... there'll be murder.

CAPTION(S):

DETECTIVES CSI Miami stars David Caruso and Elizabeth Berkeley DEDUCTION Agent Quigley is on the case TOP COP Gil Grissom from CSI Investigates CAUGHT IN THE ACT Mirror's Maeve Quigley investigates yesterday