Ultraviolet

You might want to sit down. Ultraviolet is stylish, smart and dare I say it - British…

British science fiction has a bad reputation with the people who commission programmes for television. It has often been lumped in with children's programming, or consigned to a minority channel with a minimal budget. With no chance of filming spectacle, the writers fell back on plotting and characterisation, it may have looked cheap and nasty, but the glory always lay in the writing. However, up against an endless supply of glossy, vacuous American imports British SF was an endangered species.

Fortunately, Channel 4 were willing to take a risk when they commissioned Ultraviolet. They chose to make a series that subverted the staple police drama with vampires.

Mention vampires to people and they may think of Christopher Lee in a cloak, a Californian teenage girl's extracurricular activities or the foppish dandies of Anne Rice's novels, but the legends go back into the depths of mythology. The vampire mythos has been in and out of fashion for the last couple of centuries. It was popular in the Victorian era in a society coloured by the grim world of the newly industrialised cities, infant mortality and mass illnesses. It languished for most of the last century, only to come out of the shadows with the onset of AIDS and worries for the environment.

Ultraviolet takes the mythical vampire and gives it a twist. This is a world recognisably our own, but with a dark core. These vampires live in the shadows – not only the physical darkness of night, but they are also lurking in the gloomier parts of society. They have interests in cancer, AIDS and the outcasts of society. They manipulate society to their own ends through human servants – willing and otherwise.

The Catholic Church – in connivance with the British government has set up a team to investigate suspicious events and where necessary to destroy the vampires. This is a long way from Buffy's stakes and a spell in the library. This team comes equipped with SWAT commandos, guns, grenades and all the latest scientific equipment.

Jack Davenport plays a policeman who falls into this alternate world when one of his colleagues goes missing.

The episodes do feature an ongoing thread which reaches a conclusion in the final episode. However, most of the plot of each episode is self-contained, so even if you chance across an odd episode you will be able to pick up the story. Ultraviolet is not suitable for children as it contains discussion of such topics as paedophilia and abortion –both subjects are sensitively handled, but are bound to offend some people.

The makers chose to use actors that could do justice to the material. If you tuned in halfway through an episode without realising what you were watching you could easily believe it was a glossy detective drama. Dialogue is well handled and understated – they act and sound like government officials, not bit players in a Hammer Horror film.

Visually it looks superb, it was shot on film and the screen glows with cool colours not normally seen outside of big budget productions. The producers took advantage of the London scenery, daytime scenes are set in the leafy suburbs, whilst night shots feature the seedier side of the metropolis – amusement arcades, grim tube stations and lonely streets. Special effects are used sparingly and are competently handled to propel the story forward.

Six hour long episodes were made. Part of me would like to see more of this dark world, to see the development of the grand plot and the characters, but another part says that it would have been impossible to maintain the standard without repeating some of the plot lines.

A minor classic.

You might go into ULTRAVIOLET expecting something like THE X-FILES. Well, it's not exactly like that. UV has more in common with the best British cop shows. Some of the darker elements of shows like FROST, REBUS, or WIRE IN THE BLOOD are evident throughout this mini-series.

This is a smart, bleak story about two warring factions: Humans vs. Leeches. It's a battle for species supremacy. Filled with social commentary, UV twists the vampire legend into a tale of survival and desperation.

The characters are intelligent and strong, the pacing is perfect, and the plot never falters. Jack Davenport is Det. Sgt. Michael Colefield, the latest recruit in the war. Suzannah Harker is Dr. Angela March. Idris Elba is Vaughan Rice.

The leeches (aka: Code V's) remain mostly unseen, adding to the mystery and growing tension.

Since this isn't a big Hollywood production, there are only a few explosions, absolutely no karate vampire fights, and not one person in a black leather outfit. This mini-series is smarter than that, requiring a bit more than just a heartbeat from its audience.

The only complaint is that it only had six episodes, and that no more were ever made...

If not for the 2003 reboot of Battlestar Galactica, I would say "Ultraviolet" was by far the best scifi TV show of the last 20 years. Indeed it has much in common with Battlestar, making me wonder if Battlestar creators were influenced by this great show. Foremost we are challenged with themes of moral ambiguity like never before. By that, I mean we are forced to question who are the "good guys", who are the "bad guys", and are there any limits to what injustices we commit in the name of war? For example, in one very jarring episode, we are faced with the conundrum: are the "good guys" justified in forcefully performing an abortion on an unwilling woman simply because her fetus could be a vampire hybrid?

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start with the basic premise. It's the age old concept of vampires preying on humans and humans fighting back, except "Ultraviolet" delivers a very clear metaphor which other vampire tales only hint at. I'm speaking of the ecological metaphor of 1 species being at the top of the food chain and feeling the need to regulate & control all species below it. Sound like any species you know?

I applaud the writer for not mincing words. Direct comparisons are made toward human use (and abuse) of cattle & other livestock. At one point one of the human characters summarizes the situation very clearly by describing how the vampires could have humans all in farms within the next 50 years, punctuating it with, "our free-range days are over."

I think this is what has intrigued us for centuries about the classic vampire myth: the idea that there may be a super predator that feeds on us. Will it treat us the same way we treat the lifeforms we consume? Or will it strive for fairness, mutual benefit and true symbiosis with other lifeforms? After all, as one vampire points out, "we all share this planet." This is very progressive stuff, certainly far beyond the standard screamer flicks about bloodsucking monsters.

Another point that makes this groundbreaking for a vampire story is that it's one of the earliest versions that puts a hi-tech scientific spin on the battle. No wooden stakes and garlic cloves here; instead the humans use carbon bullets and allicin grenades, allicin being a garlic derivative. Also, the word "vampire" is never uttered (it must be a British thing, like in the 1983 vampire film "The Hunger"). But traditional elements remain, such as vampires not casting reflections, and more interestingly, a complex antagonistic relationship with the Catholic Church. The church's role is never fully explained, but that's part of the show's charm. At one point the vampire killers' justice is referred to as the new Spanish Inquisition, again making us question who the good guys & bad guys are.

I probably should've said up front that there isn't a ton of action in these episodes. So if straight up action is what you're after, you might want to look elsewhere. But suspense, tension, mystery, great character development, and above all poignant questions of morality are laid on thick. Again, I can't help bringing up Battlestar Galactica which is the only other TV show I've seen that forces us to decide for ourselves who are the good guys & bad guys.

It's a crying shame that this show never got a 2nd season. But apparently writer/director Joe Ahearne was reluctant to do even the six episodes we got. For that reason, the show does end on a decent finale that answers most questions. If you want to believe it. Me personally, I'd like to think that the season 1 finale presents just one possible side of the story, and a 2nd season could show us the other. Yeah I still have hopes that, after 15 years, we'll get a 2nd season. Then again, I'm still waiting for I Dream of Jeannie season 6.

I have to say a word about the cinematography, editing & soundtrack: magnificent. Particularly in episode 5 when one of the main characters gets locked in a warehouse with a vampire time bomb slowly counting down, the drama is presented in a classy, cinematic way we rarely get on the small screen.

If you're a fan of dark, gritty, suspenseful shows that challenge both your mind and your moral fiber, definitely check this show out. By the way, it has absolutely nothing to do with the 2006 vampire flick "Ultraviolet" with Milla Jovovich. Although there was a 2000 pilot of this series for American audiences produced by Fox (who admitted they "screwed it up"), this killer vampire story hasn't seen the light of day. Start writing in letters, people! Watch it and I'm sure you'll agree; someone needs to resurrect Ultraviolet!

This mini-series was a breath of fresh air. I was quite surprised to find it at my local Blockbuster video, which is renound for carrying a lot of copies of main-stream garbage. This series introduced unusual elements and had all of the signatures of a well-created 'universe.'

This is a must-see, esp. for Vampire (did I use the 'v'-word?) fans.

Ultra Violet is a gritty British crime drama set in modern day London. Detective Sergeant Michael Colefield's best friend disappears on the eve of his wedding to, Kirsty, the girl Colefield secretly loves. Colefield's search to find the missing bridegroom leads him to disturbing discoveries about his friend and unearths a secret enforcement agency operating within Colefield's own police force and their mission – to obliterate the hidden society of once human creatures, human blood sucking creatures.

Leeches as they are called, look like us, act like us, and want many of the same things we do, which makes sense - they used to be us. Although the word Vampire is never applied to the heavies in this series, refreshingly, the classic tenets of vampire lore are maintained, (They can't eat food, they cast no reflection and have a perilous allergy to sunlight.) Updated to the 21st century, our secret agency uses ultra-modern day science to track, destroy and not quite dispose of these creatures.

Ultra Violet is an excellently well made combination Brit TV, Police drama and Vampire chase. If you appreciate any one of these genres, I suggest that you check out this series, but be warned, It does not seem to be available for rental in the US as yet. I took a chance and purchased the 2 disc set sight-unseen from AMAZON.com for $26.99. I loved it, and while the story arc of the series does reach a reasonable conclusion, it's clear there were years of story left to this show. I must reiterate, my only regret in Ultra Violet is that it didn't have a longer run. If this has got you at all interested – check the more detailed reviews on AMAZON.COM.