After spending the best part of 2 months working my way through the masterpiece of television that is ‘The Wire’ I was left with a massive hole in my television viewing schedule. After the intensity and the quality of the story telling I’d recently become accustom to I knew I couldn't follow it up with just any show, it would have to be something clever, something hard hitting, and more importantly something good. With so many recommendations being given to me from friends and family alike I was struggling to pick something until one night I was sat at home watching a Family Guy repeat on FX when during the adverts a trailer for a soon to debut in the UK show caught my eye. Using the wonders of modern technology I hit the rewind button to view it in full, the show was called ‘The Corner’, was created the same people as ‘The Wire’ and seemed to have some of the same actors. I’d found my new show.

The Characters

Francine ‘Fran’ Boyd, played by Khandi Alexander (who many may know from ‘CSI: Miami’), is the drug addict mother of DeAndre struggling to get through life and look after her son. The two of them live in ‘Dew Drop Inn’ (the groups nickname for the home they use as a drug sanctuary) with her two drug addicted sisters, Bunchie and Sharry, her drug addict brother Stevie and his son. It’s clear Fran wants the very best she can for DeAndre and doesn’t want him to continue drug dealing and eventually end up in jail, but coping as a single mother with a strong minded teenage son is hard enough, throw in drug addiction, the lack of a job and the environment they find themselves in and its clear to all that this is a situation anyone would struggle in. At times Fran comes across as bitter, unfair, and almost devious, often in her exchanges with Gary this comes out the most, but its clear she loves her family and still cares for Gary. I though Alexander excelled in this role of the troubled mother, much like Carters performance she left me with a strong emotional attachment to the person portrayed.

For a mini-series ‘The Corner’ has a large amount of character outside of the main family mentioned, although that should be no surprise thinking of the amount of people Simon must have met during the 3 years. From the man all the addicts look up to due to how long he’s survived in the streets Fat Curt (played by Clarke Peters who played Leicester Freeman in ‘The Wire’), George 'Blue' Epps, or the young Tyreeka Freamon, all have their own part to play in the story and all portray the roles they are cast as as close to life as possible. Fan’s of ‘The Wire’ should keep a look out as I spotted at least ten actors or actresses from the show who were also here in ‘The Corner’, some in bit parts, some in larger roles.

The show has gained major acclaim for it’s no hold barred depiction of life on the street and this is all down to Simon's time in Baltimore that I mentioned earlier. The characters and events in this show are not fictional ones based on real life, they are real people using the real names of those involved so as to make the show (and book before hand) as shockingly truthful as possible. Real Baltimore slang is used, while the depictions of what drug addiction

Pictures of The Corner (DVD)

Deandre, Fran and Gary

‘The Corner’ doesn’t try to make out every drug addict or dealer as bad people and takes each on their individual merit and situation. The sociological study this programme takes on this sort of life is unprecedented on shows/films I’ve seen myself, which was a major factor in why I loved it. Seeing the way these people struggled everyday to put together money for drugs was a real eye opener in many ways, while also seeing the things they did for accommodation, friendships, food and certain members of the community showed a side of the life rarely shown or documented.