The fourth season of Wire in the Blood has come to DVD and the program shows no signs of slowing down.  Based on a series of books by Val McDermid, this grisly, intense mystery show is still as gripping and powerful as it ever was.  This season presents four more cases for Dr. Hill to work on as well as a major change in the supporting cast.

Dr. Tony Hill (Robson Green) is a brilliant clinical psychologist specializing in psychopathic criminals.  He strongly believes that even abnormal behavior follows patterns:  That there is a reason for the methods and actions of serial criminals.  The trick is to find the twisted logic behind their actions.  It is something that Dr. Hill is very good at.  Given enough time, he can get inside the mind of a criminal and feel what they are feeling, think what they are thinking.  This makes him very helpful in tracking down brutal serial killers.  But he is so obsessed with his work, that he has a hard time relating to normal people.  He can't have an ongoing relationship with anyone but his patients.

In the past Dr. Hill has worked closely with DCI Carole Jordan (Hermione Norris) from the Bradford Police department.   She was his counter-part on the force, giving him access to evidence while fending off her superiors who didn't think that a psychologist had any place in a murder investigation.  The two characters worked well together and Dr. Hill seemed to have a thing for his female companion.  For some reason however, DCI Jordan was unceremoniously replaced at the beginning of this season.  With the simple excuse that she took a job overseas, she didn't even bother to tell Tony that she was leaving, something that came as a shock to the doctor.

Replacing Carole is DI Alex Fielding (Sioban Lahbib).  Yes, another female detective on the police force of a mid-sized British town.  The odds would be against it I would imagine, and I think the producers missed the boat by not introducing a male detective for Tony to work with.  The dynamics would have been different and though the sexual tension would be gone, having him fall for two inspectors would be a little much.  As it is, Lahbib does a great job with the role, but they don't give time for her character and Tony to grow close.  They instantly assume that she's a large part in Tony's life, and a sub-plot in the final episode involves Tony hearing her voice in a reoccurring dream.

Part police procedural, part psychological drama and part whodunit, Wire in the Blood is a fascinating show.  The character of Dr. Hill is a very interesting one.  Like Fitz in Cracker, he is a brilliant man, but a flawed one.  He has many personal foibles, and his analysis is not always correct, though he is always confident of his conclusions.  This combination of high intelligence and character flaws makes him both realistic and captivating.

Originally shown on the BBC, this series is better than its made-for-TV origins would led you to believe.  The script is very tight and well thought out, with many twists and turns and the occasional red herring.  It is also more intense than most TV police shows.  Though this is a British murder mystery, it is not cozy.  This is a violent show, and though the murders almost always occur off camera, the methods of killing are quite sever.  In this set people are burned alive, strung up and stabbed through the throat with a protractor, and cut over and over hundreds of times until they slowly bleed to death.  While the camera never focuses on the crime photos, they are in view and this show isn't for the squeamish.

The episodes in this season are:

Time to Murder and Create:  When a body is found in a buried plastic drum, Tony is convinced that it is the work of a serial killer.  The new DI however doesn't want him on the case, since to her it's open and shut.  When other bodies start appearing however, it's clear that Tony was right.  But who is behind these murders and can Tony and Alex discover him before he kills again?

Though Tony had to win the trust of a police officer in much the same way he did in the first season, this was an interesting and captivating case with a surprising conclusion.

Torment:  When a prostitute is tortured to death, Tony recognized the MO immediately:  it's the same pattern as a criminal he helped put away years ago.  The problem is the original killer is still in jail, so who is behind the new string of murders and why are they copying a series of crimes that were solved years ago.

This started out as a great episode.  The murders were brutal but precise, and the link between the imprisoned felon (in a mental institution) and the current crimes was quite intriguing.  This was the only episode of this show however, where I didn't buy the conclusion.  There were a couple of holes that were never filled (why was there a gap in time between the series of murders) and I just couldn't buy who the ultimate villain turned out to be.  I wasn't surprised to discover that this episode wasn't based on a Val McDermid book.

Hole in the Heart:  Another interesting set of murders that appear to be random, but there are just too many of them.  Tony thinks he sees a pattern, but what he uncovers is hard for Alex to swallow.

A good solid show that gets back to the basics:  a mysterious series of gruesome murders and an intricate plot behind it.

Wounded Surgeon:  Tony is disregarded at a parole hearing, and the very first person he ever wiggled a confession out of is released.  Tony's sure that he'll kill again, but the man's current psychologist thinks he was never guilty in the first place.  When the press picks up on the story, Tony is tried in the papers as an overambitious doctor who tricked an innocent man into confessing.  Things go from bad to worse and it looks like Tony's career is over.  But could he have been so wrong?

This is an excellent story that kept me guessing throughout.  Clever and well crafted, this final installment of this season's shows is an excellent piece of detective fiction.

Audio:

The only audio track is an English stereo mix.  There are no subtitles.  The sound is very clear and crisp.  Since there are not a lot of sound effects or music, it wasn't an enveloping sound, but very good nonetheless.  Fairly good use was made of the front sound stage with certain sound effects coming from one side or the other.  It was an adequate sounding disc.

Video:

The anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen image looks pretty good overall.  The picture was clear and not fuzzy like some resent BBC releases.  Skin tones looked natural, and details were present in the shadows.  That's not to say it picture was perfect, it was slightly dark, and not as sharp as I would have liked.  There was some digital noise reduction done, and there are artifacts from that, mainly a slightly grainy look to the sky and other large objects.   This is almost unnoticeable and not a distraction.  It also looks like this is a PAL-to-NTCS conversion with a slight amount of ghosting in some scenes where there is a lot of movement.  Again, this doesn't distract from the show luckily.

Extras:

Not surprising given the lack of bonus material on the previous sets, this is a bare-bones disc.

Final Thoughts:

This is an excellent show.  Though it took a little time to get used to the new detective in the Bradford PD, the program is still as strong as it ever was.  The characters are all three-dimensional and the acting is top notch.  But it is the strong script that makes this show so enjoyable.  The mix of police procedural, psychological drama and whodunit sounds like it would end up as an unwatchable mess, but just the opposite is true in this case.  The show is engrossing, captivating and entertaining.  A great way to spend the evening.  Highly Reccomended.