Let's clarify this title early on - it's not about Zombies. Waking the Dead is a BBC series that focuses on a cold case murder squad. They probably could have chosen a better title, because I passed over this show multiple times after seeing the word "dead" and thinking "waking" was "walking." (That was before I got my new glasses.)Anyway, I just finished five seasons, but apparently there are many more. If you like British detective programs and love hearing, "I'm DCI..." whoever, you'll probably get into this one too. The British titles are so much cooler...Detective Chief Inspector.It focuses around Detective Boyd, who runs the show, played by Trevor Eve (not bad looking for a man his age). Dr. Grace Foley, played by Sue Johnston, is always analyzing everyone as the profiler of killers and her coworkers. Like so many other shows, this one reminds me not to get emotionally involved with the actors and certain characters. Claire Goose, who plays one of the detectives, leaves the show (via a horrific on-screen death), which totally changes the flavor of the team after her departure. Coupled with a change in the forensic team at the same time, it's a shocker. When that happens, I grieve the loss and often find myself loosing a tad bit of interest trying to get into the replacements who I often don't like as well. It was no different in this case either, but it's like work -- people come and go all the time.After watching so many British detective police shows, this one carries the usual underlying themes in the series that I am finding occur over and over.The main detective is a bit wonky with either work or personal problems. They are either emotionally detached from others, unable to make close relationships, have some fault like yelling, drinking, or whatever.The top guy always is a little rebellious refusing to obey orders, and there is usually someone on the force that is out to get them in the upper echelons. Though the team works well together, there is always some undermining strife and rivalry in the ranks.Some of the crime stories can be downright sick, especially upon the discovery of a dead body and how gruesomely the poor victim had been killed. The newer shows go for the shock factor more than the mystery, and I wish they would spare me the gory details.Of course, these stories always leave me with unanswered questions:Is forensic science that advance it figures out everything?Do DCI's ever carry guns? How much tea do they drink on the job and what kind?When they are in the pub sloshing down the ale, are they on duty or off?I may never know the answer to these perplexing questions, however, it doesn't stop me from searching for the next BBC crime show. As you can see, I've watched a few. Do I have favorites? I am a bit partial to the older shows with less gore and murders of only stabbings, strangulation, and poison, which occur at night while the peacocks are screeching in the background. The more complicated the lead detective, the better. These are some of my favorites:Midsommer MurdersDetective LewisPrime SuspectWallenderMurder in Suburbia So that about sums it up. BBC or ITV better keep cranking these series out, or I'm going to be disappointed.It's time for an Earl Grey.

Twice in the last few years I have given this show a chance--viewings at least two years apart. Both times, same reaction. The show is the most Americanized (NCIS, The Shield (The Shield, however, does have compensatory features) etc. ad nauseam) Brit cop show that ever worked its insidious way onto the screen and into the hearts of many people who like to be mindlessly silenced by a show that depends almost solely on a kind of smart aleck quick pace that leaves no time for character development, thematic development, plot development. This show throws images and speech at you at a cyper speed that first baffles, then disgusts, and then reaches the apogee of t.v. non-sense--we've made it through the episode and something must have happened because we have good acting, seemingly a compelling plot and interesting stories--not.Trevor Eve is supposed to have charisma, but it is lost in the miasma of stories that refused to be told in a way that is comprehensible, not to mention compelling. A show to be missed if you enjoy other Brit suspense/detective shows such as Midsomer Murders, Foyle's War, The Last Detective (okay L.D. is a comedy/drama not a hard ass cop show. The most successful cop shows usually have a proper amount of mystery, but essentially a large dose of humor--Rumpole, Morse, New Tricks,--and they move at a reasonable pace so you don't think you're in a blender. This show reminds me of Criminal Minds--with one impt. exception-- CMinds slows down once in awhile and the characters seem more real.

Waking the Dead along with Inspector Morse, New Tricks, Agatha Christie's Poirot and Touch of Frost is one of my favourite detective dramas. Why? It is superbly shot, with the dark photography and brooding scenery. True, there have been some truly disturbing and perhaps graphic moments throughout the series. But with the quality of how it is made, acted and written, that is so easily forgiven. The scripting is intelligent and sensitive, and the episode ideas are outstanding. The acting is absolutely fabulous, with Trevor Eve absolutely phenomenal as Boyd, and Holly Aird and Sue Johnston providing terrific support. There is nothing funny really in Waking the Dead, but while it is a little bleak once or twice, others were very moving. One scene worth of mention was Boyd standing over his dead son in the morgue, I was weeping buckets in that particular scene, it was just as moving as the finale of Inspector Morse and anyone familiar with that will know how heart-rending that was. And the tight direction ensures plenty of tense moments, and I can't count the number of times I've got goosebumps from watching this. All in all, a superb series, look out for it. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox

Waking the Dead "Every Breath You Take" The body of a police woman who has been missing for a year is found floating in the Thames... This is well acted except the script has got more holes than an episode of the Simpsons... starting with the forensics arguing about needing mouth masks on to prevent contamination, whilst none have hair nets on...and ending with the hi-tech surveillance team with no foot backup to actually arrest the suspect, not once, but twice. This is well acted except the script has got more holes than an episode of the Simpsons... starting with the forensics arguing about needing mouth masks on to prevent contamination, whilst none have hair nets on...and ending with the hi-tech surveillance team with no foot backup to actually arrest the suspect, not once, but twice.