Blue Murder: Complete Collection on DVD, February 1, 2011
Jane Tennyson (Helen Mirren) may have set the standard for the British female cop-in-charge, but Detective Chief Inspector Janine Lewis (Caroline Quentin) finishes the rough edges and brings accessibility to the role. Lewis is as complex a character as Tennyson, but there are more complications in her life and she is respected by the people with whom she works.
Acorn Media, the darling of British-TV fans, releases Blue Murder: Complete Collection on DVD February 4. The collection includes 19 episodes on nine discs, along with bonus features. It all begins with a pregnant Lewis being promoted to DCI, arriving home to celebrate with her husband, and finding him in bed with another woman. One of the virtues of Blue Murder is that the viewer does not have to witness Lewis’s water breaking in the middle of a crime scene and an inconveniently timed delivery. The writers had the good sense to bring the baby into the world between episodes.
Ian Kelsey stars as DI Richard Mayne, a recent transfer to Manchester and a man from Lewis’ past. Mayne had been quite the womanizer, so Lewis keeps the sparks between them under control, although sometimes it’s just barely. The four Lewis children present ongoing problems, but the emphasis is on crime and detection. The Lewis home is somewhat chaotic, with DCI Lewis often called out and a parade of nannies trying to maintain order under difficult circumstances.
At work, Lewis is assisted by DS Butchers, DS Shap, and DC Kat Skerton (Paul Loughran, Nicholas Murchie, Belinda Everett, all contributing strong support) in addition to Mayne and other police personnel. Each character is finely drawn—quirks, character flaws, prejudices, and pasts included, adding rich texture to the cases they investigate. Manchester, Blue Murder ’s locale, provides a gritty setting for crime of all sorts; Lewis and crew investigate the most gruesome. Rock stars, cheerleaders, illegal immigrants, businessmen, gangbangers—they’re all dropping like flies on the streets of the city.
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