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| They walk amongst us. The heroes of ULTRAVIOLET fight modern-day Vampires in London. Images: CHANNEL 4/MEDIUM RARE. |
ULTRAVIOLET: THE COMPLETE SERIES (2 discs)
Starring Jack Davenport, Idris Elba, Susannah Harker and Philip Quast
Written and directed by Joe Ahearne
Released by MEDIUM RARE ENTERTAINMENT
Reviewed by Scott Weller
Coming just at the right time to give the British TV horror genre a brief but welcome shot of adrenaline, the concept of Vampirism is given a modern spin beyond the blood-sucking, darkly romantic realms of the iconic heraldry of Count Dracula, alongside a new level of believability, with the terrific 1998 six-part series ULTRAVIOLET, which gets its fangs out for a subtly enjoyable resurrection on DVD, courtesy of the aptly titled production company MEDIUM RARE.
New twists on the legend of the ancient race, beyond Bram Stoker’s compulsive imaginings, show them living in an uneasy, secret state with the human race, ultimately perceiving us as the inferior species-weak cattle to be exploited in new ways, with our technology and ideas ultimately being used against us.
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| Jack Davenport as policeman turned modern-day Van Helsing, Michael Colefield. |
Soon star of the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN films and the SMASH! TV series, Jack Davenport stars as Michael Colefield, launched into this scary new world and becoming one of its front and center human resistors when his best friend and partner, Jack Beresford, goes missing in mysterious circumstances, his police investigations leading him into joining the shadowy world of C10- a top-secret government organization whose small but dedicated team all have unique histories and scores to settle with the creatures, armed with the latest weaponry and technological research tools to discover the Vampire’s secrets and neutralize their continuing threat. There’s no garlic or crucifixes here but some of the other well-known ways to kill them are intriguingly revisited and satisfyingly updated.
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| Analysing the science of Vampirism: Susannah Harker as Dr. Angie March. |
Cleverly not ever referred to on-screen as vampires, called the technical sounding “Code 5”s (the numerical V meaning you know who!) or “leeches” whenever The Squad suspects their involvement, our team, over the inter-connected six-episode run, discover the creatures infiltration within many areas of big business, the church and in pharmaceuticals/ drug development, whilst also looking for further ideas to increase and improve their bloodline and underground terrorist war.
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| Shady dealings from Jack Beresford (Stephen Moyer) in the opening episode. |
Against an atmospheric London backdrop, blurring the lines between good and evil in many respects, ULTRAVIOLET is a clever, well-thought out series with a genuine touch of class about it, written and directed by Joe Ahearne, who later contributed so much talent and dedication to the 2005 re-launch of DOCTOR WHO with Christopher Eccleston. A big success with its original airing in 2000, ULTRAVIOLET has since picked up a deserved cult following.
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| War buddies. Michael with the moody warrior, Vaughan Rice (Idris Elba). |
Its also a very well cast series, too. There’s the aforementioned Davenport, plus Stephen Moyer, popular all over again with vampires in the US TRUE BLOOD series sensation, as his “turned” friend Jack, and other top-leaguers then and now including Philip Quast as former Catholic priest and dedicated head of The Squad, Pearse Harman, a pre-LUTHOR Idris Elba Elba, an intimidating presence in opening episodes, showing lots of early promise in his role of the ex-Gulf war soldier, Vaughan Rice, and Susannah Harker, fresh from her success in the BBC adaptation of HOUSE OF CARDS with Ian Richardson, as the slightly cold but ultimately loyal blood specialist Doctor Angie March, very much in the best THE X-FILES Dana Scully tradition.
Critical comparisons of the time hailing it as being the British equivalent of THE X-FILES hold true for the most part, with genuinely inspired horror moments (Episode Five being a particular classic), that certainly live up to Chris Carter’s series alongside the kind of inter-personal character dramas, that were emerging on UK TV at the time (like THIS LIFE, which Ahearne also worked on).
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| Dead versus the living. Jack meets Michael! |
Despite the success and rave reviews, though, CHANNEL 4 never quite gave a satisfactory enough reason for ULTRAVIOLET’s incredulously non-renewal for a second season (presumably a change of drama management who just didn’t “get” the show- let’s face it, things like this have happened before, especially with genre shows of this type). The promise truly was there for a further genuinely epic series to come.
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| The full cast of ULTRAVIOLET (including Philip Quast, far right, as Pearse Harman). |
Still, there’s lots to enjoy with just this season, and this new release is a vast improvement over the CONTENDER set from 2001, especially on the picture and sound transfer front, with new extra features including an interview with writer/creator Joe Ahearne, part of a specially created retrospective on the making of the show which delves into the creation of the show (originally titled Vampyr Squad, and the challenges of selling it to British TV at a time when the suits just weren’t interested in horror/fantasy, or particularly anything with the idea of vampires in it!), scripting, directing (in a London that proved very unfriendly to series filming and unsettled by the thought of Vampires!) casting, and storyboarding (with a sequence from the opening episode highlighted). There’s also some terrific CHANNEL 4 trailers from the time, a series promo, deleted scenes from the first episode that are good for completism, and a stills gallery (enhanced with character dialogue and fine music from series composer Sue Hewitt).
KOOL TV RATING (Overall episodes and special features): A top-league series, superior to many of today's US Vampire-themed shows, finally gets some special treatment. 4 out of 5
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