Ultraviolet

Ultraviolet
"When your life's been shattered it *does* help if you can make some sense of it all!" - Michael

Michael (left) and Vaughn look on moodily.

Ultraviolet was one of those oddities. A TV programme that you actually had to concentrate on to follow. The basic premise was quite cliched on first examination - a secret organisation funded by the government to hunt down and exterminate vampires. But behind this lay a web of complication that helped the series become more than its original idea. For a start, the vampires fought back, clearly organising something in return. For another, no cliched images ever appeared on screen - no sign of fangs, no turning ugly and no one ever used the term 'vampire'. They were always 'Code 5' officially (or 'leeches' to the hard-nosed Gulf War veteran Vaughn). And finally, the emphasis was not on fast action but on slow tension. Building up the sense of bewilderment and loss that permeated through the characters and their world, colouring everything in shades of gray as you witnessed how the job was slowly destroying the good guys from inside.

The stories themselves were also fantastic. Each episode centred around a major modern theme and related it back to the vampires, using them more as a metaphor for our modern day fears than the legendary creatures of darkness they tend to be portrayed as otherwise. And within each story came some fascinating treatments of very serious subjects - artificial insemination and paedophilia to name but two. The writing never faltered, managing in combination with fantastic acting and good direction to create some truely amazing (and harrowing) moments - the most memorable for me being the portrayal of a paedophile that was both unnerving and moving at the same time.

Dr Angela Marsh and the storage facility

The team. Far right is the priest, Pearce J Harman

Combine this with a season's plot arc that could put some American shows to shame, acting that was almost faultless, and a haunting use of music and themes to support the tension, and you had one of the best shows I've ever seen. I certainly hope that if I can write as well as that one day then I'll be getting somewhere as a writer. Sadly I don't think Channel 4 are ever planning to commission a second series, which is a shame, and there certainly aren't enough fans out there so maybe one day I'll make a fansite. One day. When I actually get some time to myself. Which should occur sometime in 2005.

(Please note, all pictures displayed here are copyright Channel 4 and World Television, and are used without permission because I'm recommending this show, thus increasing the chances of there being a second series. However, should anyone else who owns these images disapprove, please can they mail me and I'll remove them.)