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Simon-185
Reviews
The Vice (1999)
Frighteningly realistic (spoilers included)
Warning - spoilers included
The Vice is all about the London Vice Squad and how they tackle prostitution and its associated problems.
Series 1 develops the characters in the Squad, their interactions with each other, and their targets. One character becomes embroiled in a world of sexual obsession and ends up being blackmailed by the very people he is supposed to be working against. He is eventually caught and ruined.
The squalid nature of prostitution in London and the drug use associated is depicted in a frighteningly realistic manner. The scripts are very hard edged and do not attempt to glamourise the topic. Not for lovers of 'Pretty Woman.'
Liverpool 1 (1998)
Gritty and enjoyable drama
The two series of Liverpool 1 follow DI Isobel de Pauli who has transferred from the Metropolitan police to work in Liverpool with the CID. She is partnered with Cally who has relatives in the local underground.
We go through the trials and tribulations of fitting in her new job and the regional prejudices she suffers.
The story lines are varied and involve drugs, sex, paedophilia, and murder. The gritty streets of inner city Liverpool are excellently depicted and the growth of relationships in the squad woven into the stories. The burgeoning and ambiguous relationship between de Pauli and Cally is developed through the two stories.
All in all, an excellently acted series that is enjoyable and believable.