Wire in the Blood - Complete First Season

Wire in the Blood: The Complete First Season Brilliant, passionate and eccentric, clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill (Robson Green) has an extraordinary understanding of the criminal mind. It enables him to empathize with both victim and murderer – and even to visualize the crimes. Working alongside the ambitious and driven Detective Inspector Carol Jordon (Hermione Norris), Dr. Hill helps the police profile and track down vicious killers in northern England. DISC 1 - THE MERMAIDS SINGING Three men have been tortured and mutilated. As fear grips the city, DI Jordan and Dr. Hill join together for the first time to find a killer. DISC 2 - SHADOWS RISING The bodies of two girls are found in a remote lake. New leads suggest a bizarre connection to death threats made against a TV celebrity. DISC 3 - JUSTICE PAINTED BLIND A brutal strangulation bears shocking resemblance to a controversial unsolved case. Dr. Hill, however, believes a different killer is at work.

Intense

This is very intense and has you sitting on the edge of your seat. Its very good writing and the plot is one I could never fathom. It actually scared me and makes me think there are some very psychotic people in society today. July 9, 2008

Wire in Blood first season

Robson Green is mesmerizing as the socially inept and eccentric clinical psychologist. The character is a departure from Green's usual more forceful commanding charaters. I was spellbond by the story plots and watched the series in two evenings. If you like psychological thrillers or are a fan of Robson Green this is a must see. July 1, 2008

Additive!!

Shorted this series one star for one reason - Cost vs Amount. The price is a bit steep for the amount of episodes you receive, but I must say that Brits can really put together a very entertaining drama. I have already ordered Season II, despite the cost. The price of addiction.... June 30, 2008

Best for McDermid Fans

Robson Green's "Wire in the Blood," a British television detective series, is actually made by Green's own production company - he's a big television star in the United Kingdom -- for Independent Television (ITV). The series is based upon the work of prize-winning British author Val McDermid, set in her fictional Midlands city of Bradfield, which she undoubtedly based upon the Midlands city of Manchester, where she worked as a journalist for 16 years, and still resides. Furthermore, it's filmed in Manchester, in the English Midlands, which we don't see much of here (Green's a native of Newcastle, not all that far away.) It's a crime drama/police procedural, focusing largely on the capture of serial killers (a theme some of us may find overused), and it is gritty, sometimes gory. And many Americans, me among them, must wish it had subtitles: between the local accent, and the softness with which the characters speak, it's very difficult to make out what's going on.

The series is nicely filmed, on location, and uses enough extras to make that location believable as a bustling city. It boasts a good cast. Robson Green, to be sure, stars as Dr. Tony Hill, psychologist-academic-profiler, giving a substantial performance as an intense, intelligent, troubled, fallible, and flexible man. He is ably supported by Hermione Norris as Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan; Emma Hardy as DC Paula McIntyre, and Mark Letheren as DS Kevin Geoffries.

However, "Wire" now advertises itself as "based upon the characters created by" McDermid, a relatively new author, who hasn't written nearly enough to keep a series going. Most episodes of the series are written by others. If you've never read her work, McDermid is a daring writer, who frequently breaks new ground; her best work is troubling, intensely gory and violent. Other writers just don't go there.

Episode 1 of the first series, "I Hear the Mermaids Singing," is based upon the McDermid book of the same name, an extremely bloody one, about a sadistic serial killer operating in the city's gay community. It's been cleaned up considerably for TV. Episode 2, "Shadows Rising," is, in fact, based upon the first "Wire," McDermid's "Wire in the Blood." It too, is an extremely gory book, about attractive young girls disappearing all over the country, later to be found murdered. And it, too, has been cleaned up considerably for TV. The third episode presented, "Justice Painted Blind," which is not based upon a McDermid work, is not only not up to McDermid's standard, it just doesn't deal with her usual material. Instead, it chooses to concern itself with the doings of someone seriously dissatisfied with the country's justice system.

The series takes its name from that first book that introduced Dr. Hill. It is,I understand, a quote from a poem by T.S. Eliot, meaning an irresistible urge to kill. Unfortunately, what with one thing and another, many Americans will have frustrating difficulties trying to follow this material. Therefore, I can't recommend it to anyone not, at least, familiar with McDermid's work.

June 26, 2008

BBC at its best

This series is so well written. I am a huge fan of pyschological thillers. I am always amazed at how "Blood in the Wire" keeps me guessing up to the very end of the show. Even when I think I know who did it, there is some great moments at the end of these episodes that make me think "How did they ever think to do that?". I have been a fan of Robson Green from his "Touching Evil" series, and this character suits him even better.

You will find yourself thinking of him like a modern day Columbo - he has a great mind, but bumbles his way through at times. You will love the little blue bag he carries around, like a symbol of his simple straightforward approach to solving a crime. June 24, 2008

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