‘The Shadow Line’ DVD review
BBC Two’s recent The Shadow Line is a serial sodden with blood: seven hours of claret-splattered, frequently flamboyant, occasionally preposterous and completely compulsive television.
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BBC Two’s recent The Shadow Line is a serial sodden with blood: seven hours of claret-splattered, frequently flamboyant, occasionally preposterous and completely compulsive television.
A complete and unexpurgated knowledge of the truth is what DI Jonah Gabriel (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and the viewers who have followed his exploits through every twist and bloodstained turn of this expansive, intricately-plotted thriller deserve; and happily, it’s precisely what they get.
After several weeks of soul-searching and self-doubt, DI Jonah Gabriel (Chiwetel Ejiofor) finally establishes which side of the line he was on before being shot in the head – and who his real enemies are.
In this weekend’s Doctor Who mid-series finale, Amy Pond has been kidnapped and the Doctor is raising an army to rescue her. We caught up with Monroe star Christina Chong, who plays Lorna Bucket, to discuss her role in the story.
In this weekend’s Doctor Who mid-series finale, Amy Pond has been kidnapped and the Doctor is raising an army to rescue her. We caught up with Harry Potter actor Simon Fisher-Becker, who plays Dorium Maldavar, to discuss his role in the story.
Over the course of its first four episodes, The Shadow Line has matured from an overwrought, rather confused melodrama plagued with florid verbosity into one of the BBC’s best thrillers in a very long time. In the fifth instalment, it gets even better.
Actor Rafe Spall (Desperate Romantics, Pete Versus Life) plays Jay Wratten, Wratten’s nephew and a key player in the drugs cartel, in Hugo Blick’s seven-part conspiracy thriller The Shadow Line.
Like the drugs at the heart of the late Harvey Wratton’s empire, The Shadow Line has become addictive in a slow, almost sneaky manner. After an unhurried, take-it-or-leave it start, it has insidiously built up to the point where now, three episodes in, it has become impossible to break free of its grip.
The principal problem with The Shadow Line is its identity crisis. At times, it’s a fascinating noir-ish thriller; at others, it feels like an unwieldy Shakespearian melodrama that has somehow lost its way en route to the RSC and found itself on the telly instead.
The BBC have released a new trailer for their Original British Drama this Summer, featuring previously unseen clips from Torchwood, Doctor Who, Page Eight, Luther, Case Histories, Luther, The Shadow Line, The Hour and The Night Watch.