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Amazon.co.uk Review
In the six-part British "vampire-slaying" mini-series Ultraviolet we discover that UV light is used (both in surgery and via high-tech weaponry) to identify people who have been infected with a disease labelled "Code 5". It's transmitted via a bite to the neck, but at no point in the series is the word "vampire" used. Instead, in the second episode ("In Nomine Patris") the nickname "Leech" is introduced. We learn that it was this disease, these "Leeches", that were responsible for the Fire of London, and that one in 20 people are already infected. In the opening episode, policeman Michael Colefield (Jack Davenport) is recruited into the secretive CIB. He meets its introverted priest-chief Pearse (Philip Quast), the emotionally driven Dr Angela March (Susannah Harker) and the bullish heavyweight Vaughan (Idris Elba). Spinning around Mike's suddenly complicated life are his best friend's jilted fiancée Kirstie (Colette Brown) and old flame Frances (Fiona Dolman). In later hard-hitting episodes we see a 12-year-old boy stab his teacher priest to death ("Mea Culpa") and the capture of a "Leech" ("Persona Non Grata"). This intriguing series ends having tied together most of its threads, but dangles worrying implications at the viewer... not so much to suggest a sequel as to hammer home everything at stake. --Paul Tonks
Video Description
DVD Special Features:
PC Screensaver
Weblinks
Trailers
Gallery of Stills
Cast and Writer-Director Biographies
Picture format: 4:3
Sound: Stereo
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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A shame there was only one series ...,
By A Customer
This review is from: Ultraviolet - Complete Series (2 Disc Set) [DVD] [1998] (DVD)
"Ultraviolet" is about vampires though it never calls them that (referring to them as "Code 5's" or, in a more derogatory fashion, as "Leeches") but they are vampires all the same and the series was shown on UK Channel 4 television about 3 or 4 years ago. True to all vampire tales it is the church (the Catholic Church) that is involved in defending humanity and though crucifixes, bibles and such do work against them (implying that there must be a spiritual element) the series tries to approach vampires from a more scientific viewpoint. The series rapidly makes the viewer aware that "Code 5's" are another "race" or "species" that rely on us for their food, that they cannot be seen in mirrors, that they cannot use hi-tech devices to communicate such as phones, radio etc. and that they are determined to stop us destroying ourselves if they have to take control of us to do so. Like other series the leeches require human assistance since they are vulnerable to daylight (somewhat combustible), the usual spiritual deterrents and stakes through the heart (presumably churches too as our heroes HQ is set up in one) but the "good guys" use ultraviolet light (the component of sunlight the leeches can't handle and the reason for the cool choice of name for the series), hardened charcoal bullets instead of stakes and gun mounted scanners that can highlight vampires by showing them to be invisible through hi-tech equipment. The series features Jack Davenport (of "This Life" fame to UK viewers) who becomes curious as to why his best friend is behaving strangely (including ditching his bride at the alter) after which he is recruited to, and somewhat reluctantly joins, a branch of the special services (known as CIB) which deals with incidences concerning "Code 5" infections. In CIB Mike (Davenport) joins forces with Vaughn (Idris Elba) & Angela March (Susannah Harker) under the leadership of the quiet priest Pearse (Philip Quast) to combat the leeches but, to do so, he must abandon previous acquaintances and start a new life (which explains some of his reluctance) which is made difficult by his best friend's ex Kirstie (Colette Brown) who is remarkably persistent at trying to find out what has happened to her fiancé and why Mike is behaving so strangely. The vampires are sophisticated and use scams, frauds, and other techniques to acquire money and thus work within the human economic system as well as investigating the "pollution" or "contamination" of their food supply by carrying out experiments of the kind the Nazi's would have been proud of ... they also claim that they are persecuted & hunted down by church run death squads (if you'll excuse the cynicism it is not, after all, as if the church has no previous expertise in this area). Joe Ahern, who wrote & directed the series (ably aided by a fine production team one of whom I know personally), investigates a number of issues over the all too short course of the series such as the nature of the vampire "race", whether they possess souls as do humans (bearing in mind this is fiction), whether they are out to dominate us, whether they should have some kind of right to feed off us and whether they should be treated as some kind of ethnic minority rather than simply hunted down and executed. Not, according to this series, that they can ever be truly killed as once terminated the powdery remains of the vampires are sealed in tubes and locked in a vault that is referred to as a prison by it's human keepers. In terms of Extras the DVD set is somewhat let down as there is just a PC screensaver, some weblinks, trailers, still photographs & biographies ... there are no featurettes or commentaries or anything that turns a good DVD set (that this is) into a truly excellent one. That said, in Ultraviolet, Ahern brings as a sharply written script, with some cynical humour, morality issues & conspiracies and he does so with style. Ultimately Ultraviolet is a slick psychological thriller and Channel 4 manages to live up to its usual reputation of producing or buying a quality series ...
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
what a shame... it will be missed,
By Rachel "Rach" (up north, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ultraviolet - Complete Series (2 Disc Set) [DVD] [1998] (DVD)
being 19 i am too young to remember the first airings of ultraviolet and until now my parents have never let me see iti watched it, transfixed, for the whole 6 episodes. and at the end i was crying out for more!! it amazes me that no one "influential" saw the potential in this series and didnt make it a movie or at least another series! i know i am not the only one who will sorely miss it. R.I.P ultaviolet
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
SHEER QUALITY!!,
By
This review is from: Ultraviolet - Complete Series (2 Disc Set) [DVD] [1998] (DVD)
I enjoyed watching Ultraviolet when first shown on Channel 4 & have just treated myself to the DVD. Even with the 7 or so year gap it is still just as amazing to watch. All in all brilliantly made, written and acted. It's a shame it was not continued by C4, Ahearne et al. Don't compare it with other vampire shows, it's unique and can stand up on its own.
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