The Shadow Line

2011

The Shadow Line

7.9 | en | Drama

A murder is investigated by both sides of the line, cops and criminals, using opposing methods. But the real line is the morality within each person and how far they will go before they cross it.

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Seasons & Episodes

EP7 Episode 7

Jun. 16,2011

Bede desperately tries to complete the final drug deal as his wife's condition deteriorates rapidly, while Gabriel is inexorably drawn to a shocking confrontation with Gatehouse.

EP6 Episode 6

Jun. 09,2011

Gabriel uncovers some dark truths about Counterpoint which implicate his colleagues and Glickman warns him that Gatehouse will hunt him down. Bede gets one step closer to finally getting out of the drugs game.

EP5 Episode 5

Jun. 02,2011

Gatehouse finally tracks Glickman down with explosive consequences. Gabriel gets closer to finding out why he got shot and there's help for Bede's floundering business deal from an unexpected direction.

EP4 Episode 4

May. 26,2011

Jay Wratten's insistence that Bob Harris is responsible for his uncle's murder causes problems for Bede's new business deal. Meanwhile Gabriel struggles to placate his ex-mistress and Gatehouse shows he'll go to great lengths to find Glickman.

EP3 Episode 3

May. 19,2011

Bede reluctantly finds himself in the driving secret of the drugs cartel. Meanwhile Gabriel continues to investigate the Wratten murder against his superior's instructions, and Honey discovers a secret.

EP2 Episode 2

May. 12,2011

The driver of Wratten's car is identified, and Gabriel and Joseph Bede are desperate to get to him first, but they find themselves in a three-horse race with a shadowy figure that always seems to be one step ahead of them.

EP1 Episode 1

May. 05,2011

In a race with the dealers, DI Gabriel leads the investigation into a drug baron's murder.

7.9 | en | Drama , Crime , Mystery | More Info

Released: 2011-05-05 | Released Producted By: Isle of Man Film , Company Pictures Country: United Kingdom Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0111dqc/

Synopsis

A murder is investigated by both sides of the line, cops and criminals, using opposing methods. But the real line is the morality within each person and how far they will go before they cross it.

Stream Online

The tv show is currently not available onine

Cast

Chiwetel Ejiofor , Christopher Eccleston , Kierston Wareing

Director

Kevin Woodhouse

Producted By

Isle of Man Film , Company Pictures

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Trailers

Cast

Chiwetel Ejiofor

as Jonah Gabriel

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness The Man Who Fell to Earth Infinite Locked Down The Old Guard Day Zero Maleficent: Mistress of Evil Mary Magdalene The Lion King

Christopher Eccleston

as Joseph Bede

My Name Is Leon Close to Me Robbo: The Bryan Robson Story Set the Night on Fire: The Story of Ewan MacColl King Lear Dead in a Week (Or Your Money Back) Where Hands Touch RSC Live: Macbeth Legend

Kierston Wareing

as Lia Honey

Avengement I Love My Mum Do Not Disturb 100 Streets The Double The Liability Twenty8K Inside Men The Fall of the Essex Boys

Reviews

craigd This could have been so much better. It really is a case of a show trying too hard. Some of the actors are obviously brilliant, and some moments shine, but so many roadblocks to being a good (or even mediocre) show: forced lines; extended scenes showing people looking pensive/depressed; ridiculous scenes like backing away from a standoff, one with a gun, the other with a coat hanger; terrible lines given to the Commander on the boat; the whole subplot of the pregnancy.Just terrible, I persisted through the whole series. But the whole show was really lame. Best thing was the Conrad title. No character was really likable except for the mad nephew. And the rent boy, what was with that?

Prismark10 From writer/director Hugo Blick (who also played the young Jack Napier in Batman (1989)) comes The Shadow Line a stylised crime drama.I would emphasise the word stylised as sometimes Blick goes for a look or a scene than standard drama tropes. The lines regarding right and wrong, good or bad are blurred as we encounter twists and turns as people are different from what they claim to be or as we see them first.The drama is about a murder investigated by both sides of the line. The police and criminals, he opposing methods they use to solve it. But the real line is the morality within each character and how far they will go before they cross it and the secrets they all hide.Chiwetel Ejiofor is the cop with a potentially dark past. Christopher Eccleston is the bad guy who wants to go straight and do the right thing.Stephen Rea plays a character who looks like John Le Carre's George Smiley and seems to have walked out of a spy novel, the most sinister villain of them all, Le Carre probably wishes he invented such as character.Anthony Sher is another villain who has gone into hiding and re- invented himself but gets dragged back to his old life.The generally excellent acting adds intrigue, there is always a sense of dread especially when Rea is about and some of the deaths are strange such as a man run over and ends up plastered to the motorway road sign.The rather avant-garde filming style will not suit all tastes, it also may be slow for some as Hugo Blick gives his drama plenty of time to breath and even meander.

pk1873 I am a late comer to this one but I have to say.. This BBC drama was outstanding. The performances by the lead characters were as good as you will see on the small screen and the head to head moments between the dark and sinister protagonists are so tense they literally suck you to the edge of your seat then blast you back again in one intense moment, sheer genius. The plot has some excellent twists and turns and keeps you guessing in all the right places. If I have one complaint it is that the final episode is a little rushed. It really could have been doing with that bit of extra time and meticulous detail I had come to expect from the previous 6 episodes. A minor complaint in the grand scheme of things, still 10/10 and TV at its best in my book.

Anthony Page **** Spoilers **** I watched the whole series, all 7 episodes and I understood it all, nothing here too hard to understand. This show has been compared to The Wire. Very unfortunate since such a contrast shows this series flaws. The Wire was realistic the events believable. You felt these things *could* happen in this world and did. I don't think The Shadow Line aspires to this. All the events and corruption, betrayal for a police pension? I was as incredulous as Jonah Gabriel when he asked the former cop on the boat if he was actually disguising all that corruption for altruism.Most of the acting was good. Most of the story was good but I never just look at that. I look at the overall plot and the effect the series will have on the world. Is the overall plot believable? No. Is this a warning of what could really happen in the world? Of course not. This is the new millennium folks not the 70's. I have a little more faith in the police force in Britain than that. Besides if millions of dollars suddenly show up in the police pension fund someone is going to notice.The series is called the Shadow Line. a reference to the moral line the characters draw in themselves. Bad morals were well documented but the other side, the good side is almost completely absent. At the end of the series Gatehouse and Patterson ask is it so clear to draw that line? Jonah Gabriel says to Gatehouse "of course"... honestly I was waiting to hear more. Obviously the good side of "THE SHADOW LINE" is not well represented here.I don't need a happy ending, but the ending in this film was negative in the extreme.