Charming and brutal

A Brilliant Conflict

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

There is a certain formula each episode follows. There are multiple scantily clad young women who get brutally murdered. There will be many scenes of hookers and trashy bar people. Police are rude to Dr. Tony Hill and refuse to work with him. They are gradually won over. People who are innocent are very rude to the police and refuse to co-operate for no apparent reason. Dr. Hill comes up with detail after detail about the perpetrator, without any more explanation of how he did it than Sylvia Browne, psychic, ever gives. The criminals are deeply psychologically twisted, far more so than any person you have ever encountered, even in the newspapers. There is a last minute dash to rescue some young woman being held by a psychopath. She is always rescued.Despite this strong formula structure, the episodes are entertaining and surprising.

I have been seeing quite a lot of this show on TV lately and i find it surprisingly entertaining. Surprisingly because i'm usually no fan at all of the serial-killer genre nor the kind of grisly imagery that this show always provides. But the gratuitous images and the worn-out theme aside this show has a lot to offer.My favorite aspect is without a doubt Robson Green as the forensic psychologist Tony Hill. His weary and distraught appearance is enough for this to be worth watching. Also his interaction with Hermione Norris as the steely CID Carol Jordan is entertaining as well as many times touching.The scriptwriting doesn't really live up to the characters in my opinion, but it's decent enough. Considering that i have read several of Val McDermids novels and liked none of them the writing in this series far exceeded my expectations. McDermids writing is simplistic and unimaginative in my opinion and the only real aspects from the novels that has been transferred to this show is the gratuitous nature of the crimes.All in all i would say that this is a very entertaining show, at least for those who can stomach the gritty themes. I feel it far supersedes other shows in the same vein like for instance the quite dull "Messiah". Recommended.

Crime series can be made by the actors, the director, the scenery, the music and so on, but they can be ruined by a poorly developed plot. "Wire in the blood" gets at best half marks. I've seen two of the six episodes and the four remaining will land in my video player by mere accident, I'm afraid. There are simply too many inconsistencies, too many unrealistic behaviour for this series to rank among "Morse" or "A touch of Frost". I bet professionals in crime investigation pull their hairs out upon seeing the numerous mistakes made. No I'm not going to list them, you may want to see it without spoilers anyway.The acting crew try their very best and the shooting is nice - as far as I can tell - but they can't save the series either.

This is a taut British crime drama very much in the "Cracker" mould. In this case, our lead character is Dr. Tony Hill. It features a crime-weary psychotherapist who is part profiler, part detective, part forensics expert. (Think "Cracker" meets "Inspector Morse" meets "CSI").There is a bookish, academic quality to Doctor Hill, without him being tweedy and standoffish (he's more human, and less lofty than Morse).Dr. Hill is well played by actor Robson Green, who played another complex Detective in the British miniseries "Touching Evil."In "Wire in the Blood" the stories and the crimes often unfold slowly, with just enough bits of clues and hints to make the slow development seem satisfying.WARNING: The crime scenes can get a bit grisly, but are never gratuitous. If you like the aforementioned "Morse" series, and enjoy the psychological gymnastics by Robbie Coltrane's "Cracker" then you will not want to miss "Wire in the Blood."