Cold Blood (TV Series) Cold Blood (2005) User Reviews

Fairly slick and polished for an ITV drama

[wellthatswhatithinkanyway · 7/10 · 6 November 2005]

STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits

Dispised serial killer Brian Wicklow (Matthew Kelly) is the only one who can locate where the body of a young woman is. But he's spent most of his incarceration playing mind-games with the authorities and talking in riddles. But there may finally be a man who can get to him: a former convict (John Hannah) with a tormented past of his own.

This is another touted new drama for ITV's 50th year (even though a lot of their programming has been described as rubbish) and has even more acclaim for Matthew Kelly appearing as a serial killer (ooooooooooooooooooh!!!) His performance is the one with the most emphasis on it and he delivers an admittedly impressive portrayal of a calculating and cunning man. He does actually stand out as the star of the show compared to Hannah and the rest of the supporting cast, good as they are.

As for the actual film itself, it's a fairly engrossing story, even if it's a little derivative of other serial killer films before it and the pace is a little funny in parts. Quite impressive, for ITV standards. ***

Strong opening episode

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 11 November 2018]

Cold Blood was definitely a big deal for ITV back in 2005, how I miss that format of drama, one or two long episodes, compared to the six hour long episodes we now get for every single new drama.

Cold Blood was punchy, hard hitting, quite grim in terms of material. It's not a plot that was particularly original, it had been done before, and has been done since, many times. The standout feature, was without a doubt the performance of Matthew Kelly, I can remember at the time thinking how awful, the former You Bet presenter was going to be, but boy did he prove me wrong, the standout performance, and single best thing about this drama, he was incredible, so cold and sinister, what a big surprise. I am so disappointed that he hasn't gone on to do other things, as he clearly can act.

A solid drama, and whilst it's not remarkable for its story, Kelly's performance was exactly that, remarkable. 7/10

Excellent British crime drama

[zyliaz · 8/10 · 24 May 2010]

Not since The Wire and Dexter, has there been an excellent and engaging crime show such as this. Although the premise is a lot like The Silence Of The Lambs down to the Clarice-Lecter dynamics between Eve-Wicklow, you almost can forgive the similarities as the treatment is really really good. John Hannah plays Jake, an ex-con whose just released from prison for killing his wife and lover, a policeman. This causes him to earn some bad rapport from other police when he uses his prison street smarts to help Eve with her cases. Jemma Redgrave is Eve, a workaholic cop still secretly in love with Jake, who was her crush during childhood. Matthew Kelly plays Wicklow, a serial murderer much like Lecter, a psychopath behind bars who has obvious affections for Eve and also provides some insider knowledge. In the course of her investigations, Jake helps Eve solve the murders and in her facing-off Wicklow, with his inside knowledge of Wicklow, being prison mates. Jake and Eve have a mutual attraction, but Eve is disturbed by Wicklow's knowledge of Jake's past. Wicklow whose jealous and is desperate to find out whose helping Eve, points out to Eve that Jake is similar to him but different in that he was made a psycho by his abusive sister but Jake was a born psychopath in his systematic way of disposing his victims. Wicklow constantly attempts to pull strings from inside, jeopardizing Eve's efforts and trying to harm Jake. Russell Brand plays an avid but tenacious admirer of Jake's, during his time in prison.

Cold Blood

[jboothmillard · 6/10 · 31 October 2005]

To be honest, there isn't exactly a lot of story or plot, maybe even no point for this film, but you know ITV, they'll make any kind of movie like single drama. In this one we have Vanessa Redgrave as a cop investigating a murder where the murderer hasn't tried to hide his identity, and he has purposely left his DNA behind. Matthew Kelly plays the really evil looking villain in this drama, and he is very good choice for looking like a villain, now that he's lost the beard. Someone who knew the victim of the murder, John Hannah's character also knows the murderer and is trying to help with the investigation to find the victim's body, Kelly's top secret. But like I said, not all of it is that great, there are one or two moments that are corny. But apart from that, good!

Tonight Matthew I Shall Be Ripping Off Famous Thrillers

[Theo Robertson · 4/10 · 24 November 2005]

This was well publicised due to the fact it featured STARS IN THEIR EYES presenter Matthew Kelly in a straight acting role as a convicted serial killer . No don't laugh , Mr Kelly has appeared in several sitcoms and spends Christmas time acting in family pantomimes and I hear he's very good at playing Captain Hook in PETER PAN down by the seaside . You think he's a camp TV presenter ? Oh no he isn't

It's Kelly's role that's the most talked about aspect to this TV drama and one can't thinking it's talked about for the wrong reasons . Clean shaven and bespectacled Kelly plays Brian Wicklow a serial killer sentenced to the rest of his life in prison . Alas Wicklow resembles Timothy Lumbsden from BBC sitcom SORRY rather than a cold blooded killer and this makes the story unintentionally laughable . The other convicts aren't exactly terrified by him either and they break wind in his general direction . I was expecting the insult of " Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberry " to be hurled at Wicklow . Oh and Wicklow takes hissy fits at the other prisoners . I defy you to watch this without tears running down your legs

No doubt the producers were hoping COLD BLOOD was going to be a disturbing and haunting adult thriller but instead of coming up with ideas of their own they ripped off other superior thrillers , I mean the plot line involves things we've already seen before in MESSIAH ( he's not the messiah he's a very naughty boy ) ,CRACKER and most obvious of all SILENCE OF THE LAMBS where the cops delve into the mind of Wicklow to find out how a serial killer acts ( Hopefully better than anyone else in this production - That shouldn't be too difficult ) which leads me to ask if we'll ever see Sir Anthony Hopkins presenting a TV talent show where the contestants dress up as their favourite pop star and belt out their hits ? I should hope not

It's not a Cracker

[benbrae76 · 5/10 · 11 September 2006]

The storyline of "Cold Blood" was much too thin and the sub-plots did little to enhance it. The ending was totally predictable and without Matthew Kelly's riveting (albeit sometimes a tad unconvincing) portrayal of the evil convicted serial killer, the film could have fallen flat on its face.

In view of the modern and alarming increased prevalence of the types of crimes suggested here, "Cold Blood", if given deeper thought, could have been much better, and not just produced as an inferior "Cracker", "Messiah", "Prime Suspect" or even "Silence of the Lambs".

As to the the play itself, only two main characters were really necessary. Those of the interrogator and the interrogated, with whom, in my opinion, it would have been equally as interesting and effective as what's on offer here. (See "The Prisoner" starring Jack Hawkins and Alec Guinness.) Overall I found "Cold Blood" watchable, but disappointing. Nevertheless it whiled away an hour and a half when, as I remember, there wasn't anything better to watch on TV at the time, and I was too lazy or too tired to do anything else.