Series 6 of Wire in the Blood brings the show to an ignominious end
“Most things about you are strange Tony”
For a show that started so promisingly, the later seasons of Wire in the Blood really do fall off a cliff in terms of quality. I don’t know if it ever truly recovered from Hermione Norris’ departure as DI then DCI Carol Jordan, very much an equal to Robson Green’s Tony Hill. The arrival of Simone Lahbib’s DI Fielding as a junior partner threw the show right out of whack, promoting both Green and Hill as solo leads rather than reinforcing the ensemble nature of so much of what is happening.
There’s an additional wrinkle in this sixth and final series in the endless chopping and changing of personnel. Mark Letheren’s DS Kevin Geoffries disappears for a couple of episodes to allow Cristian Solimeno’s sex-positive DS Collins to get too involved for a story and then never be heard of again. So too does Lahbib’s Fielding take a major backseat in what turns out to be the final case and John Hopkins pops up as DI Hall to be the lead detective – it’s just all so bitty.
A recurring theme of serial killer Michael stretching across the series doesn’t really pay off in any effective way, since his relationship is just with Tony and thus limited in its effectiveness. And none of the cases of the week really shine through as classics, even when Tony is the prime suspect in one of them – him being so much the focus of the show just doesn’t work as well. The right time to end to be sure.
