Waking the Dead Series 1-9 Box Set [DVD]

After watching all but the last four double-episodes of this immense work, this viewer is still mesmerised. Trevor Eve stars as Peter Boyd, the deeply troubled boss of a unit assigned to solve long-closed murders. His foil is Grace, a contracted psychological profiler whose portrayal by Sue Johnston is seamless, a wonder to observe. Wil Johnson plays the tough guy with a soft center, somehow chained by loyalty to Boyd, quite possibly the ultimate boss from Hades. This is not the token black guy in the team, but a strong character that provides continuity, balance and muscle - all the other characters are women - strong in their own right, but they can't out-run a fleeing suspect and tackle him on a stairwell. Boyd is generally unfeeling, driven, angry at God and all His creations, frequently erupting into the kind of illegal behavior that leads people to call the police animals with snouts and curly tails. He is haunted by the loss of his son to the streets, to drugs and the filth of what the son must do to support his lifestyle - never truly accepting that it is almost certainly from Boyd the boy fled, terrorized by the rage of the man just beneath the surface of the skin. And yet - Boyd is occasionally tender, supportive, even kind, and you wonder if there is the possibility of redemption, maybe in the next episode he will mellow, will see the Light, the error of his ways. But no, half-way into the next episode, he resorts yet again to violent, criminal psychological torture of a suspect, or even to rage and physical abuse, despite warnings from his cohorts that what he is about to do is wrong, illegal, immoral, whatever. All in the effort to solve the latest mind-twisting murder from the past, which sometimes leads to more murder in the present by malevolent characters whose ruthlessness is frightening. This is not the sweet delicacy of Poirot's little grey cells unwinding Agatha's creations, or Morse's endeavors to expose the guilty whilst sipping fine bitter and trying to seduce his fellow denizens of Oxford, all to the strains of Mozart and Puccini et al. Little old ladies will require their smelling salts to get through some of the dialogue, some of the grue, many of the interrogations, and a lot of the forensic evidence of the bodies, which have the disadvantage of having decayed, dessicated, disintegrated, been disembowled, dismembered, dissolved, or otherwise rendered truly horrific. All, of course, lovingly photographed with all the gore, grease, guts and grit that the brilliant make-up artists can create. Skeletons are more common than rats, and seeing a pathologist plunge her hand into the gore of a body to see how many generations of maggots have dined is not for the faint of heart. Dialogue is tense, terse and true in tone, and the actors deliver their lines with almost uncanny precision and inflection - the directors (and there are many - I suspect each episode is so draining that a new steed is needed regularly until the director recovers enough to do another) wring stellar performances from some of the finest British actors (and a few interlopers) whose roles are often far more demanding than those they have played with Frost, Foyle, Barnaby, Allen, Morse or Lewis. How Trevor Eve and his fellow team-mates can keep up the level of performance to such a high standard without a breakdown is a question one might well ask. There are a few drop-outs along the way - one literally. The Achilles' Heel of the series is the implausibility of some of the plots. the team of five does all the investigating, the site visits, interviews, the arrests, everything. Villains somehow manage to accomplish deeds that mere mortals could not, like the slight woman managing to hoist hundreds of pounds of medical equipment five floors up in a warehouse just hours after escaping from a top-security prison for the criminally insane, or some such, and little anachronisms are rife - but this is, after all, fiction - thank the stars! If this were a true story, we'd just watch a bunch of cops pouring over documents and computer files and never getting out of the office because that's a real policeman's job . . . Also, it seems like half the episodes end up with more loose ends than Mama Mia's spaghetti, and the following episode of course never addresses them. Boyd is investigated for unprofessional conduct that would see a real-life copper either in the dock the next day or the slammer tomorrow, but the investigation seems to evaporate between episodes. Can't have the star behind bars, can we? And what about that time that Boyd and his team knowingly permitted - nay, encouraged - a murder? What's that you say? Ethics? Brutality? Complicity? You'll have to judge for yourself. You won't like Boyd - he's an s.o.b. most of the time - but you won't be able to lock him out. You may get disgusted after one particular episode and say "no more" - but it won't be long before you're taking out another disc to watch because it's so much better than the insipid crap on telly tonight, and you just can't get Waking the Dead out of your mind. So, gentle reader, I advise you not to plonk down your hard-earned lunch money for this set. Unless you have a very strong stomach, know that not all the characters are warm and cuddly, have an appreciation of the crafts of acting and directing, and accept that the series does, indeed, come to an end. If buy it you do, despite all the warnings, prepare yourself for being mesmerized. And then, before you know it, you'd be just like me - anticipating with dread the end of the series, just a few discs left, wondering how you're ever going to find another incredible series that grabs your attention, immerses you in plots and characters that make your heart pound and your mind race with the action, keeps your curiosity level up ("now just how did he do that?"), have you imagining the solutions to one or another sub-plot that wasn't completely resolved, dreading what will come in the next scene. Sigh.

I searched for ages for the full set of DVDs of Waking the Dead and I'm so happy I finally found it. I thoroughly enjoyed this series even years after it aired. It's not as fast moving as other police procedurals/whodunnits so it might not appeal to all but the suspense is wonderful and the acting is just as good.

I never saw this show when it aired but had read good things about it so decided to get this complete collection. Have got to near the end of season 4 (where I believe Clare Goose unfortunately departs the show) and I am absolutely loving it. Watching two complete stories at a time at around 230 minutes is no problem what so ever. A terrific show and I am really glad that I have bought this and am finally getting to watch them. Acting is great and the guest actors are brilliant too. I just seem to be constantly saying "gosh, it's a long time since I saw him/her" or "Now I know that actor, what have I seen him in before" and that sort of thing. And the stories are terrific too. Just love it. Highly recommended.

I missed the original series on the BBC and my familly and freinds said how good it was. I must admit I think it is one of the Best Programmes I have ever seen. The plots are original and exciting and the acting is superb and believable. With each disc having two feature length episodes this Box set is brilliant value for money

Over the years BBC have produced some excellent crime drama and the entire series is well worth buying if you watched it when on TV. Trevor Eve and Sue Johnston are outstanding actors. Didn't realise just how 'shouty' the character of Boyd is throughout the series - but explained by loss of his son after drug overdose. Credit should also go to the range of gruesome state of many of the bodies in the PM room. Highly recommended.

Waking the Dead is still one of the best series ever made back in the day as i have watched this a few times since i purchased it a few weeks ago, Brilliant actors with great stories on every disc, a same they did not carry on with this program.

A great drama series with interesting characters portrayed within roles . High tension moments throughout even , in team discussion and crime scene settings . It almost makes you feel as though your involved in the action. Great acting by Boyd ( Richard Eve) so much so that if you were working with him in a real life scenario there would be multiple punch ups and staff rebellions . Hope the series continues .

Purchased the wrong one need to exchange it

Quite good stories but 5th star withheld due to unnecessarily fractious relationships within the team, in my opinion. Still entertaining on the whole.

I have always loved this series but it's a treat to be able to watch the whole thing. I would thoroughly recommend this for watching during the winter months when there is nothing much on television. I have become hooked!

Alle 46 DVDs in einem Paket, das ist viel günstiger, als sich jede Serie einzeln zu kaufen. Die Serien sind alle in der richtigen Reihenfolge sortiert und in einer sehr stabilen und platzsparenden Box geliefert worden. Auf jeder kompletten Serie stehen die Fälle auf der Rückseite in der richtigen Reihenfolge. Jeder Fall ist sehr spannend und in sich sich selbst abgeschlossen. Bei Waking the Dead steigt die Spannung von DVD zu DVD.

Super

Il y a plusieurs séries où la police reprend des cas non-solutionnés du passé. Waking the Dead (Meurtres en Sommeil en Français) est assez bien : tous les épisodes m'ont plu. Mais, au début Superintendant Peter Boyd (Trevor Eve) annonce que l'équipe va être une famille heureuse où tout le monde a leur mot à dire. Plus loin dans la série on voit qu'il devient un boss comme tous les autres...