Wire in the Blood

Green's vulnerability, intensity and flexibilty in his craft is a complete pleasure. He displays tremendous potential; one can hope that he will continue to create performances that are filled with the humanity, compassion and insight that "Tony Hill" shows us. Brilliant!

Wire in the Blood, is first of all a showcase for the excellent acting skills of the charismatic Robson Green. For a mystery/suspense,thriller this show easily surpasses virtually all shows in the genre. The shows all involve murder and this is the focus of the plots. The plots, moreover, are taut and well-written. The setting and actors are British. For non-British viewers the British actors provide something faintly exotic and alluring, which works fine to subtly draw the viewer into the action of this suspense show. It is our not insignificant loss that more shows weren't filmed

The acting overall is fine; Green's outstanding acting seemingly makes all of his fellow actors elevate their performances. The stories are quite compelling, but the real interest is in the way Green solves the murders, using his training as a psychologist who teaches at a university and in at least one episode is seen acting as a therapist. His credentials are present just to make him initially credible. He has the intelligence, training, and experience to solve complex crimes.

For a t.v. show, there an unusually high level of tension and suspense, often only seen in movies. All in all, this show rewards close viewing, while the violent/gruesome scenes are few, they are minimally sanitized, and are contextually justified. In fact the reality of violence and destructive sexuality reflect quite accurately what homicide detectives see in the real world on a regular basis. This is a show about evil--so don't expect extenuating circumstances, except for brief views in some of the shows of the past of the criminals, usually childhood, that help explain why they commit their heinous crimes.

I was lucky enough to have a copy taped from BBC America (cheers, Mom!) -- if you're a Robson Green fan, it's a fantastic showcase for his acting. Not as cavalier as his "Touching Evil" series; his "Wire in the Blood" character of Tony Hill is much more reserved, quirky, and, being a criminal profiler, is more internalized with his processing of information. Even if you're not a Robson Green fan, this will surely garner him new followers. There were three full-length movies: "The Mermaid's Singing", "Shadows Rising", and "Justice Painted Blind". The first two, "Singing" and "Shadows" are adaptations of author Val McDermid's books;

"Justice" is an original script based off of McDermid's work, but closely follows her style and she was directly involved with its creation, so I think it's a respectful homage to her work as a whole, so I don't think her fans will be disappointed. All three deal with strange and grisly serial killings, the profiling of possible suspects, and the drama involved with tracking down the unique killers. Set against the backdrop of the bleak, lonely hills of the north of England, the movies are all gritty and disturbing (but not overly-so), and they really show the darker side of human nature and the lengths at which a profiler like Tony Hill is willing to venture to capture the killer. The supporting cast is brilliant; Hermione Norris as D.I. Carol Jordan is just wonderful to watch. Intelligent, sincere, and admirably professional, it's as much her story as it is Tony Hill's. The chemistry they have is marvellous to watch and not at all contrived. Personally, I think "Mermaids" was the best; it was the first, it clearly had the most detailed characterizations and plot complexity, and was definitely the most vicious -- some scenes definitely not for the faint of heart. But still compelling and highly recommended. The other two are still great, well-plotted and suspenseful, but slightly less edgy as the first. I recommend seeing the series in its proper order, to catch little references to past storylines.

I found Wire in the Blood purely by accident and I am now a die-hard fan. It's quite dark, with just enough wit to keep you from falling over the edge into the great abyss. The intelligent and complex story line demands focus to follow clearly, and make you think. Sometimes the jumps in logic can seem a bit far fetched, but that is what makes it interesting and fun, without having to be a series of mindless chase scenes and explosions. Robson Green is incredibly impressive (and maybe a little bit scary) as eccentric psychological profiler Dr. Tony Hill, and Hermione Morris does a great job as tough DI Carol Jordan, a woman in what is still very much a man's world. All the characters have distinct and believable personalities. All in all, this series is great fun.

I watched all 3 in order and enjoyed this series. I am anxious to find out if there is a follow up to Painted? I have an unanswered question about the ending and it appears as though there is (or should be) a sequel to this? If you have not watched any of these, please go for it and watch them in order. The character development is quite entertaining. The chemistry between Hill and D.I. Jordan is done in a tasteful way. The creative and honest mind of the writers is put on the screen with a quality job of directing. I am a detective investigator and I am very critical with "who done it" crime solving type movies. These I would use to show my students when teaching a crime profiling class.