DVD Reviews:  Wire in the Blood: Shadows Rising

Continuing the brilliant series distributed in Australia by Magna Pacific, Shadows Rising once again features the talents of Robson Green and Hermione Norris as Anthony Hill and DI Carol Jordan respectively as they desperately try to find out who is killing girls who look remarkably the same. In the interim there is a stalker threatening a famous television couple, and the level of threat is raised dramatically when the family pet is killed in a most bizarre fashion. 

I really like the way that this particular episode was put together and what is so often the case with shows like this can’t tell you too much as it just gives stuff away. There is a lot of extraneous activity always taking place in this series as well as both Hill and Jordan realise that their affection for each other is rapidly taking over from being a purely professional relationship, however with Jordan in an existing one, it’s hard for her to see past what she has at the time. 

I think that another of the many reasons I do like this series to the extent that I do is that they dare to be different in the way that the series is presented with a series of camera angles and styles that we don’t see in the normal shows that are currently on the air. There is always an unexpected twist that crops up that will amaze, even to someone like myself who lives for cop shows and murder mysteries etc. You can guarantee that you will not guess every element to any one story, so even if you do figure out who the killer is, it is almost guaranteed that you will not know as much as you think you do. 

The very nature of this show makes sure that your eyes are glued to the television from the start to the very finish. Having been made for TV, the series unfortunately doesn’t support surround audio, which I am of the very strong belief it would have benefited from. This is a Dolby 2.0 mix, which still sounds great and utilises the front speakers but I think it would have been even creepier with some sounds coming from behind. 

Once again due to the television factor, there are no extras on this disc and I certainly hope that at some stage in the future they do take the time out for possibly some interviews and some insight from the series writers and producers. It would be magnificent to see where the ideas are coming from, as this is one of the cleverest series that I have seen in a very long time.