Waking the Dead - Series 6 [DVD]

Waking The Dead's sixth series in 2007 cemented its place in my heart as the best TV drama in Britain. The cast are superb; Trevor Eve can be hilarious as D.Supt. Boyd, Dr Foley must be the greatest psycho-analyst in the world and I have to say I prefer the imperious Tara Fitzgerald and the hugely under-rated theatre actress Félicité du Jeu to the previous female cast members, especially as Eve seems to spend a lot of time dissecting corpses listening to eighties ska music.

'Double Bind' is a particular favourite, a wonderfully peculiar episode (as they all are, in their own way) and the funniest scene I've seen in a long time involves Eve using Spence and Stella to remodel the death of two victims killed in the coital position in 'The Fall'.

The 2008 series was just as good and should be out soon and there's an eighth series currently being made, though sadly Du Jeu is not confirmed for the cast which could mean that Stella has been promoted, killed, finally got it on with DI Jordan or been fired for her propensity for slapping witnesses.

It was recently announced that season 9 of Waking The Dead would be the final series made by BBC. All good things have to come to an end someday. In the meantime though, die-hard collectors of this amazing series will continue to purchase these box sets which are now being sold by Amazon at a fantastic price, bearing in mind, the quality of these episodes, brilliant as always.

Series 6 is one of the best. Consistently good, each story is one on its own, and never fails to amaze. Of the six here, I think Yahrzeit is one of the best. Based around a story of Nazi war criminals escaping from Germany in 1945 and then settling in London. Their secret eventually emerges when Boyd and Co. re-open an unsolved murder case from 1946 which reveals details of an horrific plan to create a "Master Super Race". There is a tragic twist to this story involving one of the children now grown up who is implicated in the murder of a family whose remains are discovered under the concrete floor of a house where the escaped Nazi war criminals resided. Veterna actress Eileen Atkins guest stars.

Mask of Sanity is the next best story. After being released from a secure psychitric unit where he had served many years for murder, James Jensen struggles to find the truth about what really happened in a children's home where he had been badly beaten, and to find some kind of redemption in order to come to terms with what happened all those years before. The team then turn their investigation onto Dr. Bruno Rivelli who had managed the home at the time and he becomes a suspect in three murders. Jemma Redgrave and James Fox guest stars in this absorbing episode. There are some scenes which are pretty violent and distressing in this episode, so be warned.

The Fall is a brilliant episode. A mummified sexually conjoined couple, dead for many years have fallen through the ceiling of a bank which is being renovated. A journalist finds out, and she attempts to dig deep in order to find out the real truth about what had happened to the couple since "Black Wednesday" 1992. Boyd and Co. investigate and find out a lot more than they bargain for as they follow a trail leading to Dublin and also to an organisation "Opus Dei". Alison Doody, Peter Capaldi and Oliver Ford Davies guest stars.

The other episodes are very good as always, and need no further recommendation from me. One thing though, Boyd(Trevor Eve) is continuing to show himself as a pompous and loud mouth bully which strains his relationship with Grace Foley (Sue Johnstone) and he can be irritating to watch. Despite this being unacceptable behaviour, he somehow manages to hold his team together in solving these absorbing cases.

Great support from Felicite Du Jeu; Tara Fitzgerald; and Wil Johnson.

We have enjoyed all the Waking dead series and this was no exception.
Although I personally prefer 8 & 9