The Shadow Line (2011) User Reviews

A fine miniseries in need for broader publicity

[BeneCumb · 9/10 · 23 January 2018]

This decade alone has seen so many great British crime/detective (mini)series that it has been difficult to keep track, but thanks to IMDB and Wiki, it is possible to look for references and like-minded works. I have to say I had never heard of The Shadow Line before - thus I began to watch it this Month only, with episodes in succession, of course.

Well, I can´t say I was very pleased with the first episode as it did not let me think of so many different levels, intertwines and twists I could see later on... I was pleasantly suprised about Rafe Spall´s performance, but Stephen Rea was not visible yet - and when he appeared, then the thrilling pace enhanced and I could admire Mr Rea´s talent again (in my opinion, many "more supporting" actors excel the "more leading" ones a bit). I became very eager to wait what would happen next, how and if the things proceed and what would be the outcome of this complex mess without really good characters... So, the final episode included additional surprises and the ending scenes differ greatly from usual round-ups of crime series.

All in all, well done, similar quality as Line of Duty or Luther... Again, I have some doubts regarding plausibility (what about such links in an EU/NATO country police force) but as all this was depicted in a thrilling and fluent manner, then I just let me carry off with the events and witty solutions.

Things to do in London when you're Dead

[paul2001sw-1 · 9/10 · 17 June 2011]

Hugo Blick, the writer and director of 'The Shadow Line', has spoken of his inspirations as a television dramatist: the incomparable 'The Singing Detective' (a story based on buried personal drama); 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' (with its deceptively quiet middle aged protagonists); and 'Edge of Darkness' (and its mood of general paranoia). On watching his series, however, I was reminded of some American films: 'Things to to in Denver When You're Dead', and 'Brick', for example, as well as many of the works of David Mamet. What these tales have in common is a certain stylised dialogue, and more generally an internally consistent world which only partly resembles our own and which exists entirely within the prism of its own construction. In the case of 'The Shadow Line', Blick manages to keep this going for seven full hours, mostly successfully: the series is artfully shot and orchestrated and full of memorable scenes, the devilish and inventive plot even makes some sort of sense in the end, and a superb gaggle of character actors rise superbly to the script, none more so than Stephen Rea whose wonderfully-named character Gatehouse is the role of a lifetime. It's not perfect, however: with a plot so intricate, and an entire drama consisting of the sorts of encounter that might normally be found only at the most critical moment, there's no room for normality: it's hard to care about the characters or even, in it's most baffling moments, the story, however much one is absorbed; the personal elements are not as superfluous as might be thought half-way through, but one's still more likely to laugh as the preposterous twists as one is to cry for the death of one of the few sympathetic figures. Against a backdrop of such a superb cast, Chiwetel Ejiofor is a little lightweight in the lead role; and with so many characters, almost all of them dodgy, that at times one can lose track of which is which. But it's bold and inventive, a character-led drama whose characters are (in the real world) scarcely plausible, but who make perfect, chilling sense on the other side of the line.

I reserve the right to revise this upwards.

[nichomach · 8/10 · 6 May 2011]

Just caught up with the first episode of The Shadow Line.

1. Any series that nicks a title off Joseph Conrad is at least ASPIRING to greatness.

2. Chiwetel Ejiofor's a BAMF. With immaculate vowels. Match that with Christopher "Lots of planets have a North" Ecclestone and it's made of win from the start 3. This series is almost into Edge Of Darkness goodness already. No. Not the Mel Gibson version.

In all honesty, this is what the BBC was made to do; original drama that wouldn't have been made by any other channel in the UK. Perhaps it's all going to implode into crapness, but so far I really don't see how it can. OK, posting reviews when I'm shedded's probably a bad idea, but this, so far, is immaculate.

Edge Of Darkness, State Of Play, Tinker Tailor and now this

[bilko-1 · 10/10 · 26 May 2011]

Edge Of Darkness and State Of Play have already been mentioned, but come episode two and we have an obvious reference to Tinker Tailor. This show is not overshadowed in such illustrious company. It is a deep, dark labyrinthine plot carried by a superb cast, each member on top of their game. The dense text will not be to everybody's taste, but for those who enjoy the likes of Bleasdale, Pinter and Potter this will probably be the first great television masterpiece of the 21st century. It is hard to pick out one performance that outshines the rest. Chiwetel Ejiofor is truly sympathetic as the cop who has to battle with memory loss to discover whether or not he is corrupt. Leslie Sharp battles to retain her fast fading memory as she descends into the Hell that is Althseimers, whilst her husband played by Christopher Ecclestone, juggles an Hogarthian cast of crooks until he can make his last deal. Rafe Spall gives a magnificent over-the-top performance as the deranged nephew of Mr. Big and then in comes Stehopen Rae as the villainous Alec Guiness style dark brother of GEORGE smiley. Absolutely wonderful!

Brilliant on so many levels

[gerhard7 · 10/10 · 26 May 2011]

I'm so sick of predictable story-lines and being spoon fed on junk cop related television series with mightier than thou characters that are un-humanly flawless, clever, beautiful and blah blah blah. So at long last, here is a TV series that demands a certain level of intelligence from it's viewers. It's cinematicly glorious with non stereo typical characters. An unpredictable storyline that twist and turns with tension and intrigue throughout. Sublime characters well acted by superb cast. I LOVE it!!! Cannot wait for a week to pass to see the next installment. I've watched 4 episodes so far and it just keeps getting better. This is BBC program making at it's very best. A gem, cannot fault it.

The best mini-series of all time.

[Rockwell_Cronenberg · 10/10 · 15 August 2011]

The closest thing the Brits will have to an answer for The Wire. The Shadow Line is a stunning exploration of the line that men walk between morality, faith, justice and identity. The writers keep you in a constant state of mystery, unsure of who these people are and what side they ultimately lie on. The lines are blurred up until the end and everyone involved makes it a gripping and intense journey through this dangerous world. There are so many scenes that had my legs shaking in paranoia, dying to see how things were going to turn out. They somehow manage to make the quietest moments the most epic; there's a scene at the beginning of the fifth episode (that ends up lasting almost half an hour) that felt very reminiscent of that epic feeling during the Omar/Brother Mouzone meetup in The Wire.

Of course, the talented cast is an essential piece of crafting this brilliant work; Chiwetel Ejiofor is the perfect protagonist, a do-gooder with a potentially dark past who explodes in the final few episodes. Christopher Eccleston excels as the "good guy" on the bad side, a very Stringer Bell-esque character who takes a business approach to everything. The supporting cast all make huge impressions as well; Rafe Spall and Stephen Rea both create two of the most terrifying villains in recent memory. Spall the livewire with his finger always on the trigger and Rea the calm and mysterious shadow figure hiding behind the door. They take two entirely different approaches and each one is marvelous beyond words.

It's pretty hard for a mini-series to end up ranking among the best complete series for me, but this one is high up there. It's without a doubt the best mini-series I've ever seen and at the end I was definitely just desperate for even more. The final episode ends up having to rely a little too much on exposition and there are a few too many twists, but it's all necessary to wrap up the story and leave the viewer satisfied with answers. The Shadow Line is the rare series that will have you constantly guessing and on the edge of your seat. Intensity beyond intensity, a really powerful masterwork.

Just seen the finale

[kensctt · 10/10 · 16 June 2011]

From tears to screaming out at one of the characters by use of the c word, all within 5 minutes. One of the most moving series I have seen in many a while. Complex.....yes. Worth persevering.....ABSO-BLOODY-LUTELY Wow. A great script. AMAZING performances. Stephen Rea has to be the most evil personae since Hannibal Lecter. Hard to see Eve Best out of her Dr. Eleanor O'Hara role, but she manages to pull it off.

I really wish that there could be a second season, but unlike any yank series it won't be happening.

Thank you BBC. I see several BAFTAs in your future,

Atmospheric, brooding, spectacularly brilliant TV crime series

[robert-temple-1 · 11 September 2011]

This extraordinary TV series has all the intensity of David Lynch's MULLHOLLAND DRIVE (2001, see my review), and director/writer/producer Hugo Blick with this effort has really entered the top ranks of mood-makers. From the very first shot, looking down on a deserted car at night from a high crane, as two policemen gingerly approach it to look for a corpse, we know we are in deep and moody noir territory. The lighting, shots, composition, editing, pace, are all done in an elegiac mode. The acting is intense, the camera dwelling on the faces, many of them ravaged, is intense, the emotions are intense, we are in deep purple mood as a variety of horrible drug dealers struggle against The Unknown, and get killed one after another. The entire series has a kind of metaphysical feel, as if conceived by Jean-Paul Sartre as a struggle against Le Néant ('Nothingness'). Our hero, the lead policeman, suffers from amnesia and cannot remember key things which relate to the case he is supposed to be investigating. He is not sure whether he was once a corrupt cop or not, and no one will tell him. But he does find a briefcase stuffed with £250,000 in cash concealed in his bedroom. He just can't remember how he got it, and dreads finding out. He is repeatedly told that the only reason he is still alive is that he cannot remember certain things. He has a nagging ex-mistress who constantly pressures him by shouting: 'When are you going to tell her?', referring to their child which his wife does not know exists, even though the relationship itself with the mistress is over and has dissolved in recriminations and resentments. This series features an excellent but very scary performance by Rafe Small, son of the distinguished actor Timothy Small, as a young psychopathic criminal. Small has mastered the 'Tony Blair swivelling, insane eyes' motif perfectly, and may have modelled himself on that famed Conqueror of the WMDs which never existed, except for one thing, that he speaks very quietly and low key. All the cast in this series are excellent. The lead is played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, a name which requires a certain amount of concentration not only to pronounce but to remember. It does not trip as lightly off the tongue as Clark Gable, for instance. However, despite the difficulty of coping with his name, we can only respect his intense, concerned, and worried performance as the good-natured cop struggling to overcome amnesia while solving murders which just keep on happening and which all appear to be linked somehow, but no one knows how or why. The parallel story of his complicated personal life adds to the strain the poor man is under. The spookiest and most menacing, and perhaps the most brilliant, of all the performances in this remarkable series is by Stephen Rea. He is just over the horizon of visibility, where police, security, corruption, drugs, criminals, and mania all lurk. He embodies all the unknown horrors of what threatens us, and he does it with such calm and unperturbed perfection. When he kills, it is with the same unconcern with which one switches off a car ignition after parking. We discover that he is motivated by a control mania so extreme that it reminds us of all our least favourite politicians. What is it about the times in which we live which breeds so many maniacs who wish for total control of everyone and everything? And how is it that they get elected and appointed? Stephen Rea's eerie performance stands for all that, for all the unspoken, slow, relentless creep of control over everything being exerted by insane persons at the top. And he cannot be stopped, any more than the Terminator can, or than the World State, the European Union, the Patriot Act (which no one in Congress read before passing it), the public bailout of Goldman Sachs by the former head of Goldman Sachs (Hank Paulson, proud possessor of another set of 'Blair-style' swivelling, insane eyes), the controls which prevent us from taking hand cream onto planes, the closing of children's playgrounds because they might fall and bruise their knees, the monitoring of everything and everyone, the many Mount Everests of unread email intercepts and unheard phone taps, which fill all the world's demented security agencies, where total control and total knowledge amount to … what? A vacuum of futility. Somehow Blick manages to convey all of these background fears of our time, as well as the moral emptiness of those causing them, by profound and sustained innuendo throughout this series. There is always 'them'. Who are 'they'? No one knows. Even 'they' do not know. But whoever 'they' are, there is always evil, there is always corruption, there are always drugs, there are always suitcases stuffed with cash, there are corpses discovered in strange positions, there is betrayal, as well as betrayal of the betrayers, and finally there is the Nothingness. It is the Nothingness which lies behind all of this. That is who is to blame. And that is the true secret of what is on the other side of 'the shadow line'.

Not nearly as good as it thinks it is

[daggersineyes · 6/10 · 23 May 2018]

Ok I had mixed feelings all through this series but it was doing enough right for me to persevere till the end - which is a shame because the ending was ridiculous.

Unlike some reviewers I saw the ending coming from miles away & I struggle to understand why others didn't. In a show like this the "telegraphing" is actually very obvious & predictable & there's something really annoying about using "plot twists" so blatantly lacking in originality.

I actually tried to watch this series 3 times each time not managing to get through the opening scene which was just about the most annoying boring crime scene footage I've ever experienced. The 3rd time I skipped the first half of episode one and jumped in after all the yawn fest was safely away & tho a little confused at first I started to enjoy ep 2 and 3. This was short lived because after a significant event happened at the home of the main "good" guy it all went downhill again & got worse as it progressed starting with a highly unlikely scenario involving a bad dude in hospital.

A great film critic once said that you can tell what a movie is going to be like in the first few minutes. He was correct and the same is true of a mini-series. I should have listened to my first instincts.

I know this sounds like I hated it and in some ways I did so I wont be recommending it generally but if you like gloomy, "beat you over the head with how immoral we all are", nice guys always lose "reality" then you will probably enjoy it. If you don't care that no-one in the entire show is a likeable character and that they have to constantly stretch the bounds of credulity to keep the plot moving (despite a pretentious charade of being "gritty realism") then maybe you'll enjoy it. If you like your "dark" relentless, devoid of all humour & the kind of show where people don't answer questions they're asked but rather gaze mysteriously into the camera with sullen looks on their faces you'll love this.. I know the cast are capable of better but the direction is clearly abysmal because they all either act like robots or suddenly lose the plot in a ham-fisted out of proportion way that is more embarrassing than dramatic.

On the plus side, the lead actor is gorgeous, the main bad dude is portrayed well and the production values are excellent. I think it just loved itself a bit too much, got carried away with it's own nonsense and lost touch with who it was intended for - ie viewers.

I have no idea why it won awards, probably because of the rubbish ending - people equate endings like that with "clever realism" - I just think they're cliche and a cop out. Also perhaps they love the "monotone acting" that's meant to convey how emotionless violence is, which is interesting the first couple of times it happens but then becomes tedious the next 5,657 times.

Anyway - I'm not sure that review will help but I can say there are worse shows around so it's not a complete waste of time but don't believe the hype and don't expect any decent pay off for your efforts.

Difficult At Times But Daring

[GrahamEngland · 9/10 · 17 June 2011]

This series lost viewers from a strong start (for a BBC2 series) and got mixed reviews. You cannot win can you? All the signposted, glib, lazy, pandering excess of cop/thrillers blocking up the schedules, not just from the turgid ITV1 either, which many reviewers rightly are fed up with. Blick dares to dare at least.

'The Shadow Line' was not easy comfort viewing, that was the point of it, surely?

It compares very well to the missed opportunity of 'Luther', though in that case perhaps having one of the stars of 'The Wire' raised impossible expectations, even so, what a load of overblown, overheated, all sound and fury signifying nothing 'Luther' is - I gave up on it after series 1.

The Shadow Line had some of the very best, most tense, often shocking set pieces of anything on UK television for many a long time, these were not isolated either. This I think is where many draw comparisons with classics like 'Edge Of Darkness', The Shadow Line does not match up to that one - what does? Still, the comparison with 'Between The Lines' of 20 years ago, as some critics have cited, despite the very different series formats, is a fair one.

Overall, a good effort, worthwhile, a series that will be looked back on rather more fondly that the more negative reviewers think.

Almost brilliant

[themarpleleaf · 7/10 · 21 May 2020]

No-one does smart thrillers better than the BBC. The Shadow Line showed great promise with a superb cast and a well written, tightly directed script.

Lightness and wit isn't something you'd accuse The Shadow Line of. But, in the finest traditions of British TV drama it pulled an impressive cast - Antony Sher, Christopher Eccleston, Stephen Rea - you will know about. Rea, in particular, was mesmerising and terrifying as Gatehouse, the most accomplished killer since the Borgias, as he was described towards the end. While Eccleston was as tragic and as doomed as he was in Cracker. But The Shadow Line will also prove to be a breakthrough for other impressive actors who starred such as Chiwetel Eijofor, Keirston Wareing, Rafe Spall and Freddie Fox who you may not be so familiar with. All turned in performances of brooding, competing tension that suggested a change of allegiance and confusion was never far away. We were gripped.

But, on balance, it was a deflating and depressing experience. Nothing changes, yet everybody, mostly, dies. It was a gloomy and ultimately ludicrous turn of events. It was laced with a pessimistic view of human nature and motivation, reinforcing the view too that no good deed goes unpunished.

And here's another thing. It's probably a budgetry issue, but though there were some scenes shot noticeably and obviously in London, most of it was shot in the Isle of Man. At no point did the story reflect this quick shift to hillsides and harbours, seemingly very close to London as to be seamless. This became ludicrous, especially for the most significant final scenes. I'm sure the Isle of Man Tourist Board and Film Council will be pleased with the outcome. The latter for hosting such a noted drama, and the former for managing to be disassociated from such nastiness.

The best thing I've seen this year

[Moviefile · 9/10 · 17 June 2011]

Well the series finally came to its grim conclusion and I have to say I didn't see this ending coming. I read other reviews comparing this series to The Edge of Darkness (the series not the film), and while I get the comparison, that did have light relief in the Joe Don Baker and Charles Kay characters.

The shadow line has no such lightness or let up, and the nearest I can get to compare my feeling at the end is the 'Get Carter' (Michael Caine) film.

A fine cast does this justice and an excellent script made Thursday evenings a night in! A huge well done to the writer and all the actors who made this so memorable. If you remember Stephen Rea as Carter Brandon in 'I didn't know you cared' (one of the best comedy series ever IMHO), who would have imagined he would progress to being one of the most memorable screen villains ever. Bravo!

Self-consciously portentous

[ferdinand1932 · 6/10 · 29 October 2012]

This series is a cut above the bulk of similar genre shows. It has a good story and is well-plotted. Some of the characters are better cast than is typical and it therefore holds the attention.

Where it falls down is that all the characters have the same way of talking, their speech is from a version of a David Mamet power and crime drama and laced with some contemporary management speak. They take an idea and riff it - like Mamet does - and speak quietly and coolly to show they are all powerful. It becomes boring after a while.

Additionally, the interaction between the police is unrealistic. People are abusive and often plain stupid which seems an unlikely trait and rather odd, certainly compared with the criminals, who are eccentric but very polite. It indicates style over substance which is a weakness in the series.

Overall, good, but no way as good as the creators self-consciously believe it is.

Terrible rubbish

[daphnemillar · 1/10 · 21 June 2011]

In an ideal world the system for making films would have stopped this being such a waste of time. The Director would have told the writer that the script was stodgy , pretentious and incomprehensible. Long, gabbled screeds of exposition from one of the characters are no substitute for seeing things happen. If that had not worked, the Producer would have told the Director to get a grip. Some scenes are shot in what seem to be slow motion, so long does it take to do the simplest thing such as light a cigarette. On the other hand important events seem to get missed out altogether. And if that process had not worked the writer and director could have gone to the producer and said they now realised it was a terrible mistake to try to stretch it all out over 7 hours, so could they get an outside editor to cut it back. That's the way it's supposed to happen. Unfortunately, the writer, director and producer of this massively boring piece of pretension have been much too easy on each other. Maybe that's because all three roles are filled by Hugo Blick. Some people claimed this would be Britain's answer to "The Wire." That's a bit like saying a hole in the road is Britain's answer to the Grand Canyon. All of the actors (and there are some very fine ones on display) did a very good job of playing their parts. But if one of them had said early on "I'm not saying this; this is rubbish," everything would have been much better.

Twisty British Police Drama

[ronroc-1 · 6 August 2011]

Chiwetel was brilliant! He's never lightweight! This is a mixture of Mamet and David Simon (Homicide: Life On The Street) with an American '70's movie vibe (I'm thinking PARALAX VIEW) thrown in. It's all about how the supposed law & order top brass are more corrupt than their criminal counterparts. I liked the cynical view that emerged which seems to indicate that there's really no place for a moral or compassionate person in the cutthroat world of modern life. All those that prevail ultimately have sold out their moral codes in favor of greed and corruption. Kind of downbeat but beautifully executed. Stephen Rea is one of the most chilling villains to come along in a long time. Christopher Eccelston's character was the most sympathetic and his arc is heartbreaking. Of course this is heightened reality but that's the point.

Landmark Television care of the BBC

[deighton-69-286127 · 10/10 · 1 June 2011]

4 episodes in and this TV series is on a par with the first ever Prime Suspect series. ITs gripping and gritty, has a wonderful Psycho in Jay Wrattan and Stephen Rea as Gatehouse is sinister indeed. Every role is filled with a superb actor and casting against stereotype is everywhere, the tough guy is a woman, the drug dealers white, the cops black and Asian, the villain and assassin an old man. 4 episodes in and you don't know where you are or who to trust I have loved every minute, perhaps the chase through Victoria park was my favorite but still its all awesome. I hate the fact that it will end, I don't even know whether they could make another series but I hope to god they do, this is worth ever penny of my license fee, thank you BBC.

Some professional reviewers claim that this is the best piece of thriller drama produced by British television in years

[Mobithailand · 10/10 · 3 May 2016]

If you appreciate a good yarn, superlative acting and a story that will keep you riveted throughout its seven hours of screen time, then you could do little better than watch The Shadow Line.

The Shadow Line is a complex story of criminals who kill and double cross each other and of a police force that is as corrupt and violent as the criminals they are trying to put away. We are not spared generous doses of horrific violence and the villain-in-chief, a character who goes by the name of 'Gatehouse', is so frighteningly malevolent, that he has been compared to Hannibal Lector in his ability to put the heebie-jeebies into the viewing public.

I was very surprised to learn that about 2.5 million viewers abandoned watching this series after the second episode, and it has left me in despair as to what the modern audiences regard as good entertainment.

I truly wonder just what the length of the average attention span and the level of intelligence of the average viewer can be these days. Sure, on occasion, the plot moved slowly – but only in the interest of character development. Do we really want all our 'cops and robbers' to be purely two-dimensional people or do we want to be able to relate to them and try to understand what makes them 'tick', much as we can in TV series such as 'Sopranos' or 'Boardwalk Empire?

And just because a plot has several twists and turns, does that mean that it is incomprehensible to the average viewer? If this old codger can understand it, then surely the younger generation to should be able to follow it in their sleep!

Some professional reviewers claim that this is the best piece of thriller drama produced by British television in years, and I am inclined to agree with them. They certainly pulled out all their stops and the results were exhilarating. But a small word of warning; if you do hunt this series down and watch it – don't expect anything approaching a conventional ending. And there certainly won't be any sequels – thank God!

I was interested to note that the entire series was filmed in the Isle of Man, even though it is largely set in London with a few scenes in Ireland. Believe me, you would never have known it. There were no obvious signs that the producers cut any corners to save production costs.

It is a bit of crusade of mine to somehow get Hollywood to drastically reduce the obscene amounts of money they spend on movies. It just isn't necessary, as we have seen time and time again by all the low budget films and TV series that are every bit as good, and can attract equally large audiences.

If the principal 'players': actors, writers, producers and directors alike, refuse to drop their ridiculous pay demands, then go and search out new talent. I'm quite sure that there's plenty around.

And then Hollywood wouldn't be screaming so loudly about all the illegal downloads of their products and they wouldn't be obliged to charge far too much for the privilege of buying a legitimate copy. Get the movie costs down and then charge a sensible download fee that the average Joe can afford to pay. And everyone will be happy.

I know – pigs might fly

Brilliant dark gritty crime drama

[Jason_Off · 10/10 · 13 September 2020]

Super under appreciated show, it's slow paced but keeps you enthralled the whole way with plenty of twists and turns. Highly recommended.

Great new drama from the BBC

[Tweekums · 10/10 · 16 June 2011]

Before this series started previews suggested it would be one to watch; often such shows don't live up to the hype but this one certainly did. The seven part series follows the investigation into the murder of Wratten, a drug baron, who has just been released form prison following a royal pardon. Nobody on the investigation knows what he did to gain his pardon; it must have been something important though as they aren't usually given to drug dealers. Jonah Gabriel, the officer leading the investigation has recently returned to duty after an incident that left his partner dead and himself with a bullet in the brain and a lost memory; he doesn't even know if he is corrupt or not. He isn't the only person eager to learn who killed Wratten; his nephew and other members of his organisation are keen to find out who killed him as well as trying to get a large shipment of heroin into the country. Of course not everybody is keen to see the crime solved; it seems that as soon as a new lead is found a mysterious character who goes by the name of 'Gatehouse' eliminates that lead. As the series reaches its dramatic conclusion the tally of the dead increases; this tally includes some real surprises that come as a real shock when they occur.

This was a gripping drama; Chiwetel Ejiofor does a fine job as Gabriel and Christopher Eccleston and Rafe Spall are good as drug dealers Joseph Bede and Jay Wratten; however it is Stephen Rea who steals the show as the sinister and enigmatic 'Gatehouse'. It is a mystery who he is; is he rival dealer or does he work for the state? His appearance certainly resembles fictional spy George Smiley. If these mysteries aren't enough we also have corruption in the police, a drug dealer coping with a wife with Alzheimer's and a policeman who is wife is desperate to have a child. Hugo Blick did a great job bringing this to the screen as the writer, producer and director; he created a story that is both gripping and atmospheric...The final episode was one of the tensest things I've seen on television for a long time and also one of the most shocking. While I loved this series some people might not be keen as there is a fair amount of swearing and some fairly shocking violence some of which involves children.

Plenty of style but insufficient substance!

[minty-miller · 7/10 · 13 March 2012]

Great to watch but after a while the brooding and completely humourless characters begin to jar. Is there no happiness at all in these people's lives? Even the joy of a confirmed pregnancy has to be tempered by a nagging delay as the nurse checks her scanner and looks worryingly at the screen while her patient looks worryingly at Gabriel. It's as though the director has deliberately checked every scene to ensure maximum gravitas from his characters as they go about their admittedly fascinating lives. I just wish it had the kiss of reality that The Sopranos brought to the small screen. Shadow Line bears some comparison with Tinker Tailor in terms if its unremitting gloom but none of its characters feel like their gloom has been earned through years of unremitting grind and conflict. I enjoyed it for what it is but in the end, I found it less than it was hyped up to be.

A first rate and chilling mini-series

[runamokprods · 9/10 · 16 January 2015]

This is an excellent 7 hour BBC mini-series about police corruption, drug trafficking and human frailty. Pitch dark, and no important character is without fault or sins.

The performances are terrific. Chiwetel Ejiofor does very solid work as a detective returning to the job after having a bullet lodged in his brain when his partner is killed in a shooting. His memory has been damaged, so he can't remember that night, or if he and his partner were doing cop work, or were playing ball with the other side. It's a complex character, a man tortured by literally not knowing himself, not knowing his own secrets. Christopher Eccleston also does great work with an unusual and complicated role. If Ejiofor is a good guy, who may have been a bad one, then Eccelston is a bad guy with the soul of a good one. He just wants to get out with one last big score to help his sick wife, without hurting anyone. Stephen Rea is a lot of fun, if a bit one note as an ice cold super-baddie, and Rafe Spall creates a terrific, very different kind of scary bad guy -- one who is so odd, almost goofy, and quirky that it's hard to know when he's kidding, or when he'll suddenly go off in a big way. All the smaller roles are filled with top notch actors, making this a thriller that relies far more on complex behavior than shoot-outs for narrative drive and tension.

There are a few frustrating plot cheats along the way, but less than most stories in this genre (the fact that it's generally so damn good, makes the few wonky moments stand out more.). Director-writer-producer Hugo Blick has a great eye for color and noirish framing, and a feel for messy morality that serves him very well here -- and even better in his more recent mini- series "The Honorable Woman." If you liked that, there's a good chance you'll like this, and vice-versa.

Give me a break...

[Soreghina · 7/10 · 21 October 2020]

First of I want to say I mainly enjoyed this series, especially for the first few episodes. But the further on it went, the more frustrated I became with the overall message this show beats you over the head with: light and shadows yadda yadda, nobody knows which side of the line they stand on... more times than not it comes off as really out of touch and overdramatic. Another user expressed it perfectly, this show takes itself too seriously and the result is a great bleakness, but at the same time it's too unrealistic and cartoonish to really come off as gritty. The two main villains seem like they just hopped out of who framed Roger Rabbit, I mean come on. The other issue I had is with the dialogue. I enjoy imaginative, colourful dialogue, but not from every character, in EVERY SINGLE SCENE. Nobody talks like that in real life, and it really takes you out of it a lot. The final scene with the policeman saluting the baby also did me in, I couldn't stop laughing, which I presume was not what the director was going for. Overall it had potential, a pretty good mood and acting, but it blew it on ovestylized dialogue and overdone morality dilemmas.

Very Good don't miss it.

[jacko07 · 8/10 · 27 May 2011]

I agree with the majority of reviewers, 'The Shadow Line' is a very good drama about the sordid world of double cross and drug deals. A few minor things lessen it's authenticity, but you can't have it all.

Without doubt it is certainly one of the best things this year.

It is a great script and the characters are are realistic. Rafe Spall is good but goes slightly over the top with an accent straight out of 'Little Britain', this in my view made his character slightly less believable as an arch villain. Spall is a good actor, not yet as well known as his father Timothy. Rafe is more in the like of Tim Roth and Gary Oldman. It is on the cards that he and several others in this drama will be in great demand when casting agents watch the performances in this.

Stephen Rea, Robert Pugh, Anthony Sher, Lesley Sharpe, David Schofield and Malcom Storry doing great work as they always do. Although fairly new to me, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Keirston Wareing were great, in fact the whole production was top class.

Great TV with a great British cast and a good music score make 'The Shadow Line' unmissable. It will be an injustice if this isn't up for several BAFTAs next year.

Something of a high-wire act but it does come off (just)

[pfgpowell-1 · 7/10 · 14 May 2011]

Well, it set itself quite some task, but did it pull it off? At least The Shadow Line was highly entertaining, gripping and intriguing but trying to understand what was going on, what with the separate strands of plot was rather like trying to sort out a plate of spaghetti.

I suspect the modus operandi of writer, director and producer Hugo Blick was to throw as much as he could into the mix at the outset, then sort it all out as he went along. It's not an unusual way of going about plotting – Raymond Chandler did exactly that – but it is a somewhat risky strategy. In my view, Blick did finally pull it off – just. Given that he was dealing with extremely high-powered drug barons (Robert Pugh), extremely corrupt high-ranking police officers (Richard Lintern and Ace Bhatti) and one particular character who seemed to have unlimited resources at his disposal, yet no clear means of support (Stephen Rea), as well as – briefly – an obviously crooked civil servant, the denouement had to be something special. Anything less, any good cops rushing in and saving the day on the one hand, or any extreme and highly improbably scandal on the other would have seemed like a cop-out. Well, Blick did manage to carry it off, although his solution to the whole shooting match was less special than thoroughly intriguing. And if it was highly improbable, it was, at least, plausible.

There were several other strands of plot which needed to be resolved: the 'good' crook (Christopher Eccleston) whose wife had terminal Alzheimer's. the secret family of the amnesiac 'good' cop (who might well, we were led to believe at some points, previously have been a bad cop), a situation which had added poignancy in that he and his wife were desperate to have a baby together and had resorted to courses if IVF. Then there was the somewhat thuggish customs man (Sean Guilder), the ineffably effete, though highly dangerous gay crook (Freddie Fox), the ever-so-shadowy drug baron who had disappeared without trace and seemed to be the key to it all until he was bumped off (Anthony Sher), his girlfriend who, in one of the series' surprise twists, knifes him to death (Eve Best), the loose cannon nephew of the drug baron whose brutal murder set the whole thing rolling (Rafe Spall), and the retired police commander who likes nothing better than to muck around in boats and who, apparently, knew what was going on. All these strands also had to be woven into the fabric in a way which, although highly contrived, could not seem to be contrived.

Well, Blick did pull it off – just. Admittedly, he had to resort to tactics which, I have to say, came dangerously close to the hold theatrical hack of deus ex machine – one character turns out to be a baddie and Blick rather cheated on us by not giving us even the smallest hint that there was something rum about that character. One scene was especially clunky: the 'good' cop visits the retired police commander who decides to 'reveal all' and more or less delivers a comprehensive explanation as to what was going on. That, too, was a cheat. Also something of a cheat was how everything seemed to be in place when needed, and the really spooky one, softly spoken but thoroughly lethal, seemed quite omnipotent. Were things really like that for our secret services, whether active or, like him, renegade.

But what the hell: The Shadow Line was, as I say, highly entertaining, gripping and intriguing and far, far better, than to much of the post-modern cops and robbers series British television is apt to serve up. The cast was, in my view, more than competent, and it is gratifying that we can, at last, be shown a black copper (Chiwetel Ejiofor) whose casting doesn't at all hint at liberal guilt and positive discrimination but simply because he is a bloody good actor who made the part completely his own. It would have been hard to imagine any other actor in the part once you have seen the series.

Load of rubbish!

[shedmcnee · 1/10 · 17 June 2011]

After much anticipation, words almost fail to describe how bad I found this to be. After reading the reviews it seems a mixed bag of opinions. Some liked it, some didn't. I'm with the latter. From the onset it was full of clichés. To be honest I found the first fifteen minutes so boring and the dialogue so inept and unreal, that I felt like slashing my wrists with a blunt instrument! Ultimately coming to the natural conclusion (with much heart felt relief) that life was way too short to stick with it any longer! In fact, I'd go so far as to say that my cat could have written a better dialogue. Who writes this stuff? I turned off when a stereotypical butch man-woman started bad mouthing the cop on duty at a crime scene. The script was so unreal... embarrassingly awful. Do yourself a favour and give this a BIG miss! Watch Injustice with James Purefoy instead - pure class!