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Home Recommendation What I Have Been Watching …

July 11, 2012 By iluvcinema 9 Comments

What I Have Been Watching …

A few weeks ago I mentioned one of my latest television obsessions and tied it into the world of cinema. This week I will not even attempt a tie-in; instead I will just wax poetic about a program I am a couple of episodes in, The Shadow Line, which originally aired on BBC Two (BTW thanks for the recommendation, Scott – he of Front Room Cinema).

This one-off, seven part series stars a personal favorite of mine, Chiwetel Ejiofor as a cop investigating a murder of an underworld boss. But rest assured, it is not that straightforward. See, he is just back on duty after recovering from a gunshot wound to the head – and the bullet is still lodged there. As a result of the shooting, he has amnesia from the event, which also saw his partner die. This is al established the end of the of the first episode, which had a perplexing and intriguing final act that left one wondering, “Just WHAT is going on?”

And now that I have just finished episode two which heralded the introduction of Stephen Rae’s shadowy figure, I cannot wait for episodes 3 and beyond.

Although made for television, this series has a very cinematic look and feel to it. The writing is clever and well-placed in the hands of a superb cast of actors including Stephen Rae, Christopher Eccleston, Kierston Wareing and a very, very frightening Rafe Spall as the nephew of the murdered crime boss who has more than a screw loose.

Check out the trailer:

For us here in the States, getting our hands on this series has been a hard task to say the very least; this past February, DirectTV aired the program on its Audience Network. But it now appears to be available on Blu-ray via Amazon.com. My only warning: the video description states that this is an All-Region disk, so I can assume that it will play on a North American video disk player, but one cannot be too sure.

Filed Under: Recommendation Tagged With: chiwetel ejiofor, christopher eccleston, television, the shadow line

Comments

  1. ruth says

    July 11, 2012 at 9:59 am

    I like Chiwetel Ejiofor, I might check this one out though it’s tough for me to find time for TV shows. Btw, I think he and Idris Elba should make a movie together, that’ll be heavenly!
    ruth recently posted..Weekend Viewing Roundup: 21 Jump Street + Moonrise Kingdom ReviewsMy Profile

    Reply
    • iluvcinema says

      July 11, 2012 at 10:07 am

      That would be something else. And finally Idris will be able to use his East London accent!

      Reply
  2. Castor says

    July 11, 2012 at 12:41 pm

    I wish Ejiofor would be in more movies. Good to see he will star in Twelve Years a Slave though.
    Castor recently posted..Jason Bateman to Make Directorial Debut with Comedy ‘Bad Words’My Profile

    Reply
    • iluvcinema says

      July 11, 2012 at 1:26 pm

      True. I wonder how much of his limited engagement on the big screen is due to personal choice :/

      Reply
  3. Yvette says

    July 17, 2012 at 12:03 pm

    I like him too, Iba. Though I wonder how to pronounce his name. It was explained to me once, but I forgot. 🙂

    I remember him in the thriller, SALT, with Angelina Jolie, an unexpectedly good film.

    Hope I get a chance to watch this series at some point. Thanks for the tip. I’m also a big fan of Christopher Eccleston.
    Yvette recently posted..Overlooked (or Forgotten) Film Tuesday: SUSPECT (1987) starring Cher and Dennis QuaidMy Profile

    Reply
    • iluvcinema says

      July 17, 2012 at 12:26 pm

      I think it would be something like this: CHEWY-TELL Ejiofor (I believe the surname is straight up phonetic).

      I was slightly surprised by my response to Salt too – I only saw it about a month and a half ago.

      Reply
  4. Jaskee says

    July 20, 2012 at 1:43 pm

    I’ve seen a few British t.v. shows (MI-5 and Luther come to mind first) that were pretty good. I might check this out on Blu-ray sooner or later.
    Jaskee recently posted..Review: The Dark Knight RisesMy Profile

    Reply
    • iluvcinema says

      July 22, 2012 at 6:04 pm

      Almost done with it and all I can say is that it is a pretty intense watch. 🙂

      Reply

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  1. Weekend Viewing — i luv cinema says:
    July 27, 2012 at 10:27 am

    […] between, I expect to get through the last episode and a half The Shadow Line and get started on my “mission catch-up” with The Walking Dead on […]

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