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.
