You know what it’s like when a really good TV serial comes to an end. It leaves a small void in your life when you haven’t got the next episode to look forward to. Well, pity those of us who became hooked on The Wire after it was shown on BBC2 for several nights a week commencing on 30th March. I recently caught up with the last few episodes which I had recorded on my Sky Plus Box whilst on holiday. Over the past few months I have watched all five series totalling 60 episodes.
For the uninitiated, The Wire is a cult American TV drama, based in the city of Baltimore, that was first shown in the US in 2002. It has been seen on the FX channel over here, of which I was until very recently unaware, but did not make an appearance on terrestrial television until 30th March 2009. For a programme that received such huge critical acclaim in the States, I find this delay extraordinary. To make matters worse, it was assigned the graveyard slot of 11.20pm, although this is not altogether surprising in view of its strong language and violence.
The first series is concerned primarily with the police investigation of a major drug gang and, indeed, the police and the city’s drug problem figure prominently in all of the subsequent series. The latter, however, also look at other aspects of city life including the docks, local politics, the education system and the press. The overall picture is one of a city in decay, where corruption is rampant.
With a total of 60 episodes, The Wire is an epic in which the writers have been able to develop plots and characters in impressive detail. Possibly the most striking aspect of it is the realism, and this is presumably due to the fact that the creator, David Simon, is a former police reporter with the Baltimore Sun newspaper, and the other principal writer, Ed Burns, is a former Baltimore police detective and also a teacher. Indeed, so realistic is the dialogue that quite a lot of it will not be understood by a British viewer, particularly the street slang of the black drug dealers. It is the language you might hear if you were on the dealing corners of West Baltimore. This might have deterred many potential viewers. That would have been a great pity. I found that I could follow the gist of what was being said even if I could not understand every word. Moreover, the more you watch, the greater becomes your comprehension. After about three series, I realised that I could make viewing easier by using the subtitles facility on my television.
The Wire also presumes that its audience is intelligent. It does not spell things out several times to ensure the viewer understands what is going on. Not a scene is wasted, so one has to be alert the whole time. If you miss a scene, a lot that follows may not make sense. It certainly helped me to watch recordings of the programme so that I could rewind where elucidation was necessary. Moreover, it is not a series of self-contained programmes; The Wire is actually a serial, so one cannot afford to miss a single episode. Again, although there are five series (or seasons), the themes and central characters continue from one series to the next. Thus, to enjoy The Wire fully it is necessary to begin with episode 1 of season 1 and watch all the episodes sequentially. With 60 episodes, that is a significant undertaking.
Is it worth it? In my opinion, it undoubtedly is. The Wire is truly epic in scope, scathing in its depiction of the death of the American Dream and brilliantly made. It has been described as the greatest drama series ever shown on television, and I would not argue with that. I had never seen anything quite like it and was hooked from the beginning.
If, like nearly all my friends, you missed it on TV, I suggest that you buy or borrow the DVDs. All five seasons are available in a box set.*
*Click on blue underlined text for Amazon product link.
Rating ****
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