25 Days of Crime-mas Day 17: Waking The Dead is full of life

Waking The Dead may cover cold cases, but the BBC crime drama has plenty of life. That’s what makes it our pick for Crime-mas Day 17.

Waking The Dead dives into the world of cold cases, but the drama it creates is anything but cold. This BBC cornerstone of the TV crime drama genre is an easy selection for our 25 Days of Crime-mas pick today.

The show centers on a team of investigators who look into cold cases, endeavoring to get closure for crimes that have thus far gone unresolved. It lasted for nearly a decade, and featured a number of talented actors in addition to a game regular ensemble.

If you’ve been a fan of Cold Case, Unsolved Mysteries or Cold Case Files, this is the show for you and there’s plenty of it.

Here’s everything you need to know about this cool series:

A different type of crime drama

Waking The Dead is different in the sense that it doesn’t deal with present cases; its episodes all involve the re-opening of old investigations, and mostly getting them to an overdue conclusion.

What also makes it different is the format. Many cases are told in two-part, two-episode blocks, meaning that essentially every investigation is its own feature-length adventure. This isn’t one of those shows where things are neatly tied up; the writers make every story longer and more detailed than the usual TV crime drama.

It predated America’s Cold Case by three years, starting in 2000 and running for nine seasons and almost 100 episodes. It also won an International Emmy Award in 2004 for the third-season episode “Breaking Glass.”

An intriguing ensemble

Trevor Eve (A Discovery of Witches) led the series as Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd, the head of the team. Eve’s performance is enough reason to watch the show on its own; he’s intense, commanding, funny and warm in turn.

Eve, Sue Johnston (as Boyd’s right-hand woman Dr. Grace Foley) and Wil Johnson (as Detective Sergeant, later Detective Inspector Spencer Jordan) were the only three actors to appear in all nine series.

Claire Goose appeared in four seasons as Mel Silver, and her character’s exit was a jaw-dropping event that rippled through the remainder of the show. Eva Birthistle (Strike Back) appeared in the last season, while Holly Aird (Unforgotten, Midsomer Murders) played the show’s first pathologist Dr. Frankie Wharton.

What is Waking The Dead about?

Waking The Dead follows the exploits of an elite team, led by Peter Boyd, that works specifically on cold cases. Boyd has a personal connection to the mission, as his son went missing years ago, and audiences would eventually get an answer about his fate in the seventh season.

Boyd’s team members stay the same for the first four seasons, before cast changes occur starting with season 5. No matter who’s involved, the cases go through a wide variety of plots, times, and motives—but always keep the same moody, mysterious tone throughout, being one of the darker British crime dramas.

Why should you watch?

Waking The Dead is a prime example of what audiences expect from British TV crime dramas. It truly evokes a different tone and atmosphere from an American show, without beating viewers over the head as a number of U.S. shows seem to do. It’s dark and intense, but not overbearing, and the core cast of stars, particularly Trevor Eve, elevate the material above and beyond just being a standard procedural. It’s the TV equivalent of a good mystery novel.

And as with any long-running show, there are some wonderful guest actors that come to play. Among them? Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who), Carey Mulligan, Michelle Dockery, Jason Hughes (Midsomer Murders), Gina Bellman (Leverage), Stephen Moyer (Ultraviolet, True Blood) and Tom Ellis (Lucifer).

Episodes to watch

“Life Sentence” (season 2, episodes 1 and 2) features Susannah Harker (Ultraviolet) as the one woman who escaped a convicted serial killer. But when a copycat surfaces, the team has to not only ask for help from the killer who has no reason to assist them, but ask his victim to relive the trauma she went through. Nobody comes out the same after this arc ends.

“Shadowplay” (season 4, episodes 11 and 12) is the final investigation for DS Mel Silver and also the last appearance of Frankie Wharton. When a mentally disturbed woman kills her entire family, it starts a chain of events that will wind up tearing the unit apart.

“The Fall” (season 6, episodes 5 and 6) include Peter Capaldi in a starring role, as the case mixes murder with financial misconduct and even a little bit of a conspiracy theory. It’s one of those plots that starts small and blows up into something massive, and unlike many of those stories, it never gets to the point where it feels implausible. Plus, Peter Capaldi!

What do you think of Waking The Dead? Which TV crime dramas are making your list for the 25 Days of Crime-mas? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

25 Days of Crime-mas continues daily on Precinct TV. Follow us on Facebook to get the latest.