Devised by award-winning screenwriter Graham Yost and director Jon Avnet, the first series of Boomtown covered a wide variety of cases: everything from baby-stealing to run-ins with the Russian Mafia, from hostage situations in suburban sports stores to rich kids having justice bought for them whether they wanted it or not. It was also the story of its seven central characters: Deputy DA David (Neil McDonough), for example, failing to cope with his growing alcoholism and sense of disillusion, and detective Joel Stevens (Donnie Wahlberg) endlessly reliving the cot-death of his daughter and his wife's attempted suicide.

If the show had flaws, they were the slight marginalisation of the central female characters--a crime reporter and a paramedic--and the presence of too many storylines that were as much about teaching the characters a Valuable Lesson as credible crime stories. Nonetheless, it was a stunning show, which deserved a longer life. This complete Series 1 box set at least offers a readily available record of it for those of us who liked it too late.

On the DVD: Boomtown, Series 1 DVD box set presents all 18 episodes (a further six were made for Series 2 before the show's cancellation) presented in widescreen 16:9 with the choice of Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0 Pro Logic. The only special features are a trailer and the original series pitch video. --Roz Kaveney

DVD Description
A stylish and gritty multi-angled drama about crime in Los Angeles, the highly acclaimed Boomtown is unlike any other cop show on TV. Intelligent and sophisticated, the series uses fast-paced Pulp Fiction-style narrative to uncover crime stories from the viewpoint of everyone involved. Crimes are seen from the diverse perspectives of the city’s unsung and less than perfect heroes – the cops, paramedics, reporters and members of the D.A.’s office and city officials whose stories overlap and intertwine. Starring Donnie Wahlberg and Band of Brothers’ Neal McDonough, this DVD box set contains all 18 episodes from the first series.

Episodes:

• The Pilot
  
• Possession
  
• The Squeeze
  
• Reelin' In The Years
  
• All Hallow's Eve
  
• The Freak
  
• Insured By Smith And Wesson
  
• Crash
  
• The David McNorris Show
  
• Coyote
  
• Monster's Brawl
  
• Sinaloa Cowboys
  
• Home Invasion
  
• Execution
  
• Storm Watch
  
• Fearless
  
• Blackout
  
• Lost Child