Wire in the Blood - Shadows Rising

Starring:Philip Whitchurch
Director: Terry McDonough, Andy Goddard, A.J. Quinn, Nicholas Laughland, Alex Pillai, Andrew Grieve, Roger Gartland, Declan O'Dwyer
Studio: Lance Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Intelligent plotting and smart, well-drawn characters make Wire in the Blood well worth watching. This gritty British TV series plays like a cunning hybrid of Cracker, Prime Suspect, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, starring Robson Green as clinical psychologist Tony Hill, whose intimate understanding of the criminal mind gives him an uncanny knack for profiling killers based on scant physical evidence. In the two-part episode "Shadows Rising," Hill and Detective Inspector Carol Jordan (Hermione Norris) unravel the twisting (and twisted) plot of a celebrity stalker who's terrorizing a talk-show hostess and leaving a trail of young, female corpses in his wake. The motivation for these killings provides the episode's unpredictable revelation, spinning this engrossing mystery in an entirely unexpected direction. With a suspenseful climax, sharp performances, and high standards of writing and direction, Wire in the Blood is easily recommended for Brits and Anglophiles everywhere. --Jeff Shannon

Description

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 Jordan (Hermione Norris), Dr. Hill helps the police profile and track down vicious killers in northern England.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful!.......2004-11-30

Robson Green is perfect..(as always), edgy and compelling. This is a great series.

Tormented, Off Kilter, and Strange-- and That's the Hero.......2004-07-29

Robson Green may hold the patent on tormented detective types. He does not play an official policeman in this adaptation of the book of the same title. He is a psychologist who is drawn into the mad world of the sociopath by his relationship with the police.

This adapation is actually better than the novel it is based on. In the novel there is very little suspense as to who the killer is, the television show is far more convoluted and atmospheric with some very clever camara work. I take leave to doubt that the opening sequence could actually happen but it is horrifically effetive.

Fans of Prime Suspect or Patricia Cornwell's early novels should take note.

Another Encore for Wire in the Blood!.......2004-01-12

If you loved Wire in the Blood: Mermaids Singing, then you'll love Wire in the Blood - Shadows Rising! Dr. Tony Hill and Detective Inspector Carol Jordan are on the hunt once again for a serial killer with a taste for young teenage girls while having to deal with an assignment involving threats against a popular celebrity. Crime scenes show two distinctive kill patterns. Is this the work of one or two murderers? Watch the dvd to find out!

A very creative screenplay with a very scary killer.

Description

As seen on BBC America, this set includes all 6 First Season episodes from: The Mermaids Singing, Shadows Rising and Justice Painted Blind.

Customer Reviews:

Wire in the Blood 1 & 2.......2007-01-11

This is a great and compelling series. I haven't watched the 3rd DVD yet but I expect to be just as good as the other two.

Awesome show!!.......2007-01-10

I discovered this through BBC America during the 4th season and had to order the previous 3. Excellently written and acted. Robson Green is an amazing actor and should be better known in the US.

FAR BETTER THAN MOST SUSPENSE MOVIES!.......2006-08-16

THE BBC IS BRILLIANT.HAVING PRODUCED SOME OF TV'S BEST AND BY FAR INTELLIGENT THRILLERS & MYSTERIES NOW BRING US "WIRE IN THE BLOOD" . INTRIGUEING PLOTS ,INTRICATE ,INDEPTH CHARACTORS SOO WELL WRITTEN AND DIRECTED THAT HOLLYWOOD SHOULD TAKE A GOOD LOOK,AS THEY CAN'T COME CLOSE ,NO MATTER HOW MUCH $ THEY SPEND.ROBSON GREEN STARRING AS DR. HILL ,A CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST AIDING THE BRADFORD POLICE'S DCI JORDAN{HERMIONE NORRIS} IN TRACKING DOWN SERIAL KILLERS WORK SPELINDLY TOGETHER.PAST IT'S THIRD SEASON & INTO A SPINOFF "TOUCHING EVIL"THERE IS NOT ONE BAD EPISODE.CSI IS GOOD YET THIS IS FAR THE SUPERIOR.

British Crime Drama at its Very Best!.......2006-01-08

Based on the novels by Val McDermid, Wire in the Blood is a gritty, rivetting, suspenseful psychological crime drama; it is also, without a doubt, one of the best series of that genre around. Robson Green (Touching Evil, Reckless, Me & Mrs. Jones, The Student Prince, The Gambling Man, Grafters, Soldier Soldier) stars as Dr. Tony Hill, a clinical psychologist who moonlights as a criminal profiler for the police. Tony is brilliant in his ability to gain insights into the criminal mind, but his brilliance comes at a cost, compensated as it is by an equal degree of social ineptitude. Like an absent-minded professor, Tony has a mind so focused that he easily becomes oblivious to his surroundings and to those around him. It doesn't help matters that he talks to himself or that he finds it helpful to physically act out various aspects of the crime in question--things that are best NOT done in a public place! Though the storylines are very serious--even chilling--the very nature of Tony's character provides the occasional welcome moment of lightness and humour. Those familiar with Robson Green will know that this is the type of character at which he excels--characters which are, at the very least, just a little bit odd.

Tony's connection with the police is via Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan (Hermione Norris--Cold Feet's Karen Marsden), a shrewd, hard-working cop, who is well aware of Tony's brilliant mind and of his value to the police. There exists almost from the start--and always beneath the surface--a mutual attraction between Tony and Carol, and it is here that Tony most poignantly feels his lack of social skills.

There are, at the time of writing, two sets on dvd (with set three due for release in February 2006). Set one contains three episodes (each presented as two back-to-back 50 minute episodes); set two contains four 100-minute episodes. DVD extras on set one are limited to brief text-based bios, but set two consists of interesting and informative interviews with Robson Green, Hermion Norris, author Val McDermid, and the production team.

Though this is a series, each episode is movie length, and I would challenge anyone to find a Hollywood crime drama as good as any one of the episodes in this outstanding series. If you enjoy top quality, impeccably-acted, gritty, dark, intelligent psychological crime drama which draws the viewer right in--shows like BBC's Waking the Dead, for example--you will definitely enjoy this series, and I recommend both sets without hesitation. I enjoyed the series so much that I bought McDermid's latest Tony Hill novel, The Torment of Others (2004), which I also thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend. Personally, I can't wait for the release of set three, and I hope Koch Vision continues to release future sets as they become available!

Very highly recommended!

Wire In The Blood 1.......2005-08-14

Excellent thriller series. The ubiquitous Robson Green is up to his elbows in unique but very gory murders.

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