Waking the Dead (TV series)
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Waking The Dead is a British television crime drama series produced by the BBC featuring a team of CID police officers, psychological profiler and Forensic Scientist or pathologist.
There have been a total of five series and a pilot episode was transmitted in 2000 (the latest of which aired during September and October of 2005). The first series was shown in 2001, and has now been released on DVD. The third series won an International Emmy. Each story in the show is split into two hour-long episodes, normally shown in the evening of consecutive days on BBC One. The programme is also shown on BBC America in the United States. Waking the Dead will return for a sixth series, although the date of this has yet to be confirmed. It said that Tara Fitzgerald will be joining the team possibly replacing forensic pathologist and scientist Dr Felix Gibson although this is not been confirmed from the BBC. The transmission of Series 6 is now likely to be in 2007 rather than 2006, as there was no mention of 'Waking the Dead' in the BBC Autumn press pack. [1]
[edit] Storyline
The programme follows the work of a special police team who investigate "cold cases", usually murders that took place a number of years ago and were never solved. The team uses evidence which has just come to light, as well as modern technology to examine previous evidence. Trevor Eve portrays the workaholic and often eccentric Peter Boyd around whom plotlines are often centered. Earlier episodes of the programme focused more on the crimes being investigated but more recently character development has played a bigger role in the show. An example of this is Boyd taking anger management sessions in series 4.
The current members of the cold case squad are:
- Trevor Eve - Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd (leader of the team).
- Sue Johnston - Psychological Profiler Grace Foley with more than 20 years experience (although a much more overconfident Grace is depicted in the episode Straw Dog of series 5, when the story backtracks to Dr. Foley in 1980).
- Esther Hall - Forensic Pathologist and scientist Felix Gibson (first appeared in Towers Of Silence, the first story of series 5). Esther Hall will not be returning for the next series; Tara Fitzgerald will be joining the Cold Case team. Felix is somewhat altruistic and always objective. She is highly qualified with a MBBS, BSc and a PhD. She is also a member of the Royal College of Pathologists.
- Wil Johnson - Detective Inspector Spencer Jordan (shot, possibly fatally, at the end of series 5).
- Félicité Du Jeu- Detective Sergeant Stella Goodman (first appeared in Black Run, the second story of series 5, and "betrayed" the team under the "control" of her guardian - William Drake, a senior police officer - at the end of this series).
Previous members of the team are:
- Claire Goose - Detective Sergeant Mel Silver, who was killed in Shadowplay, the final story of series 4. She was eventually replaced by Stella Goodman.
- Holly Aird - Forensic Pathologist and scientist Frankie Wharton, who left the Cold Case unit to return to research following the death of her close friend DS Mel Silver. Her exit, which took place between series 4 and series 5, was not shown onscreen, it was concluded that she had returned to research. She was replaced by Dr. Felix Gibson.
- Georgia Mackenzie - Detective Sergeant Andrea Stephenson, who appeared in Towers Of Silence, the first episode of series 5. She was drafted into the unit from Kent CID because she had previously investigated a case linked to the one the team reopened in that story.
Trivia; The first series of Waking the Dead the unit was filmed on location in a town hall in London, before a custom-built set was constructed for future production. Esther Hall is currently filming the second series of Rome, possibly the reason for her departure.
(Episodes, in order of transmission)/ Series 1 (2001) Burn Out/ The Blind Beggar/ A Simple Sacrifice/ Every Breath You Take/
Series 2 (2002) Life Sentence/ Deathwatch/ Special Relationship/ Thin Air*/
Series 3 (2003) Multistory/ Walking on Water/ Breaking Glass/ Final Cut/
Series 4 (2004) In Sight of the Lord/ False Flag/ Fugue States/ Anger Management/ The Hardest Word/ Shadowplay* (this sees the tragic death of DS Mel Silver and the departure of Dr. Frankie Wharton)/
Series 5 (2005) Towers of Silence (welcomes Dr. Gibson to the team along with Andrea Stephenson)/ Black Run (welcomes new arrival DS Stella Goodman)/ Subterraneans/ Straw Dog/ Undertow/ Cold Fusion (Spencer is shot, perhaps fatally, and it is not clearly established who will return in the next series)
