# The Shadow Line (2011)

> A murder draws both a detective and a drug-smuggling criminal into a tangled investigation where each side's methods expose the moral limits within themselves.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/34580

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 7
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama, mystery
- Created by: Hugo Blick
- Network: BBC Two
- Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Christopher Eccleston, Kierston Wareing, Stephen Rea, Rafe Spall, Eve Best, Lesley Sharp, Richard Lintern
- TMDB rating: 7.9/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1701920/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: dense
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: dark, brooding, stylised, tense, morally grey

## What critics say

Viewers broadly rate The Shadow Line as a dark, stylised and intricately plotted British crime thriller with strong lead performances.

## Synopsis

The Shadow Line (2011) is a British crime miniseries created by Hugo Blick for BBC Two. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Detective Inspector Jonah Gabriel, a dogged cop carrying a bullet lodged in his brain and perhaps a dark past, while Christopher Eccleston plays Joseph Bede, a criminal who runs a fruit and flower supply business that hides drug smuggling and who wants to go straight. After the death of a drug importer, Harvey Wrattan, rival factions scramble to seize his empire, and both the detective and the gangster pursue the same murder by opposing methods. Kierston Wareing, Stephen Rea, Rafe Spall, Eve Best and Antony Sher fill out a dense web of loyalties and betrayals. The seven-episode run is a single continuing story, a tightly plotted limited series in which every hour tightens the conspiracy. Its stylised, dark visual register and brooding, morally grey atmosphere give it the feel of British noir, with the tension resting on how far each character will go before crossing a line they once thought fixed. Fans of Line of Duty, Peaky Blinders and The Wire will find resonance in its layered police-versus-underworld conflict and its unsparing portrait of compromise.

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