Wire in the Blood

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Wire in the Blood

Title card from series 4
Starring Robson Green

Simone Lahbib
(Series 4-6)
Hermione Norris
(Series 1-3)
Country of origin UK
No. of episodes 20
Broadcast
Original channel ITV
Original run 14 November 2002 – present
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Wire In The Blood is an ITV television series, based on characters created by Val McDermid, which teams a university clinical psychologist, Dr. Anthony "Tony" Valentine Hill (Robson Green), with a tough female Detective Inspector, originally Carol Jordan (Hermione Norris) but replaced by Detective Inspector Alex Fielding (Simone Lahbib) from series four onwards.

Only the first two episodes of the first series, "Mermaids Singing" and "Shadows Rising", are based on McDermid's books, the rest having been written by others. However, the second episode of series four, "Torment", is an adaptation of McDermid's novel "The Torment of Others". The series has appeared in America on the cable channel BBC America, in Australia on the public channel ABC, in France on NT1, in Germany on ZDF, in Brazil on HBO and in South-East Asia on the cable channel the Hallmark Channel.

The title of the series is taken from one of McDermid's novels, but originated as a line in T. S. Eliot's poem Burnt Norton, one of the Four Quartets. Several other McDermid novels also use phrases from Eliot, including the story used for first episode of the series. Both that and the first episode of the fourth series take their names from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The series is set in the fictional town of Bradfield, assumed to lie within West Yorkshire. However, the filming location is the cityscape and surrounding countryside of Newcastle upon Tyne and Northumberland. Each episode usually involves a serial killer.

[edit] Characters

Character Actor Role(s) Duration
Dr. Anthony "Tony" Valentine Hill Robson Green Clinical Psychologist 1x01-
2002-
Carol Jordan Hermione Norris Detective Chief Inspector 1x01 - 3x04
2002 - 2005
Alex Fielding Simone Lahbib Detective Inspector 4x01 - 6x03
2006 - 2008
Susannah Granger Nicola Walker Detective Chief Inspector 6x05 -
2008 -
Kevin Geoffries (named in the books as 'Kevin Matthews') Mark Letheren Detective Sergeant 1x01 -
2002 -
Paula McIntyre Emma Handy Detective Constable 2x01 -
2003 -
Don Merrick Alan Stocks Detective Sergeant 1x01 - 2x04
2002 - 2004
John Brandon Tom Chadbon Chief Constable 1x01 - 2x04
2002 - 2004

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Series One (2002)

# Title Original airdate ##
1x01 The Mermaids Singing 14 November 2002 & 21 November 2002 01
Clinical psychologist Tony Hill is teamed up with DI Carol Jordan in the hunt for the torture killer of several men. Based on McDermid's book of the same name.
1x02 Shadows Rising 29 November 2002 & 5 December 2002 02
Tony suspects that a serial killer is at work when the bodies of two young girls are discovered. Meanwhile, the stalker of TV celebrity couple Jack and Amanda Vance appears to be escalating dangerously. Based on McDermid's novel The Wire in the Blood.
1x03 Justice Painted Blind 12 December 2002 & 19 December 2002 03
When two of the former jurors in a high-profile murder case are killed in the same fashion, it seems that someone is pursuing their own brand of justice.

[edit] Series Two (2003)

# Title Original airdate ##
2x01 Still She Cries 17 December 2003 04
A deceptive and predatory serial killer fixates on Carol.
2x02 The Darkness of Light 21 December 2003 05
The discovery of three buried murder victims killed 500 years apart and a fire in a nearby hotel points to a mysterious and secretive religious cult.
2x03 Right to Silence 28 December 2003 06
Associates of an imprisoned gangland boss are being killed one by one.
2x04 Sharp Compassion 11 January 2004 07
A killer is targeting patients at the Bradfield Cross hospital.

[edit] Series Three (2005)

# Title Original airdate ##
3x01 Redemption 21 February 2005 08
Tony suspects a serial killer when the bodies of three boys are discovered.
3x02 Bad Seed 28 February 2005 09
Newly released killer William "Mack the Knife" MacAdam is Tony's prime suspect when a series of brutal murders send Bradfield reeling.
3x03 Nothing But the Night 7 March 2005 10
Tony is bewildered by an apparently schizophrenic killer whose methods fluctuate wildly.
3x04 Synchronicity 14 March 2005 11
A sniper appears to be killing at random, leaving deck cards at the scenes of crime. Meanwhile, Tony has to deal with his own mortality when he is diagnosed with a brain tumour.

[edit] Series Four (2006)

Hermione Norris does not return as Carol Jordan in series 4 but will remain a character in the books. Simone Lahbib of Bad Girls joins the cast as D.I Alex Fielding.

# Title Original airdate ##
4x01 Time to Murder and Create 20 September 2006 12
As a rape case ends in failure for Tony, a sadistic serial killer is at work.
4x02 The Torment of Others 27 September 2006 13
The grisly murder of a prostitute recalls a series of similar murders years ago - ones whose perpetrator is locked up in a mental asylum. Based on McDermid's novel The Torment of Others.
4x03 A Hole in the Heart 4 October 2006 14
Tony is troubled by the attempted suicide of one of his students as well as the mystery of a series of deaths that are tied to a suicide cult. This episode takes many twist and turns including the possibility of a tie with the Masons.
4x04 Wounded Surgeon 11 October 2006 15
Tony has no doubt the first killer he helped catch, recently released from prison, has started killing again.

[edit] Series Five (2007)

# Title Original airdate ##
5x01 The Colour of Amber 11 July 2007 16
Dr Tony Hill (Robson Green) and DI Alex Fielding (Simone Lahbib) are in a race against time when a young girl is seen being snatched by a man in a car.
5x02 Nocebo 18 July 2007 17

A teenage girl and a young boy are found dead and they appear to have been victims of a ritual killing. Alex (Simone Lahbib) is upset by the lack of care shown by their bereaved families as she’s having problems of her own with her son Ben.
5x03 The Names of Angels 25 July 2007 18
Tony is faced with a series of deadly puzzles when a killer rapes and strangles young female victims in Bradfield. He chooses to dress and identify them as young women he killed several years before in Europe.
5x04 Anything You Can Do 1 August 2007 19
The murder of an elderly woman, suffocated in her own home, seems too deliberately staged to be an accident or robbery.

[edit] 2008 Episode

  • Prayer of the Bone

Unlike all the other episodes, it is set in Texas.[1]

[edit] DVD releases

Region 2 is distributed by Revelation Films, Region 1 by Koch Vision and Region 4 by Magna.

DVD name Release dates
Region 2 Region 1 Region 4
Wire in the Blood - The Complete Series 1 5 May 2003 22 June 2004 8 June 2004
Wire in the Blood - The Mermaids Singing 22 March 2004 11 November 2003 16 July 2003
Wire in the Blood - Shadows Rising 22 March 2004 13 January 2004 16 July 2003
Wire in the Blood - Justice Painted Blind 22 March 2004 16 March 2004 16 July 2003
Wire in the Blood - Still She Cries N/A 17 August 2004 14 May 2004
Wire in the Blood - The Darkness of Light N/A N/A 14 May 2004
Wire in the Blood - Right to Silence N/A N/A 14 May 2004
Wire in the Blood - Sharp Compassion N/A N/A 11 June 2004
Wire in the Blood - The Complete Series 2 5 March 2004 12 July 2005 9 September 2004
Wire in the Blood - The Complete Series 3 6 October 2006 7 February 2006 1 November 2005
Wire in the Blood - The Complete Series 4 22 October 2007 5 February 2008 N/A
Wire in the Blood - The Complete Series 5 N/A 10 June 2008 N/A

[edit] Award nominations

Year Ceremony Awards References
2006 Edgar Allan Poe Awards 'Best Television Episode Teleplay' - Guy Burt (Redemption) [2]
2005 Edgar Allan Poe Awards 'Best Television Feature or Mini-Series Teleplay' - Alan Whiting [2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Episode guide
  2. ^ a b "Awards for Wire in the Blood", IMDb. URL last accessed 2007-08-04

[edit] External links