Diane Russell was a fictional character in the television series NYPD Blue. She was played by Kim Delaney from the second season to the eighth and made five further appearances in seasons ten and eleven. Dennis Franz and David Caruso on the NYPD Blue first season DVD cover NYPD Blue was a long-running American television police drama set in New York City. ... Kim Delaney (born November 29, 1961 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American actress. ...

During her years on the programme, Diane had a number of personal problems. She battled a drinking problem with the help of her sponsor Andy Sipowicz, confessed to lover Bobby Simone that she had been molested by her father when she was a child, dealt with domestic violence in her parents' marriage and her father's death at the hands of her mother; miscarried her baby with Bobby Simone, and later lost Bobby, by then her new husband, to a heart infection and failed heart transplant. Andy Sipowicz is a fictional character played by Dennis Franz on the hit ABC TV series NYPD Blue. ... Jimmy Smits as Bobby Simone Bobby Simone was a fictional character in the television series NYPD Blue. ... Jimmy Smits as Bobby Simone Bobby Simone was a fictional character in the television series NYPD Blue. ...

After Bobby's death she started a destructive relationship with his replacement, Danny Sorenson, and eventually had to leave the department as she realised that she had not got over her husband's death. During her brief return it was revealed that, after her compassionate leave, she had been assigned to the Special Victims unit.