I am prepared to admit that, when this programme first got an airing on BBC1, in 2001, I was in no great rush to watch it. The idea of a team of detectives going around solving, or simply revisiting, old crimes that they or their colleagues couldn't solve in the first place just didn't appeal to me. On top of, what I saw to be credibility flaws in the concept, there seemed to be a rather lacklustre cast; two ex-soapstars, a girl from 'Soldier, Soldier', a bloke who was best known for the dismal 'Shoestring', and a complete unknown did not give rise to a particularly inspirational credit list.

Then a few years later, the terrific series, Cold Case, came to Sky One amidst massive hype and critical acclaim.

Having watch the US series, I realised that one of my major problems with Waking The Dead had been well and truly blown out of the water; namely that cold case files did not hold interest-potential.
With this in mind, I decided to bite the bullet and set aside my aversions to the cast list, to give the series a chance. I suppose that, deep down, part of me wanted it to be an abject failure so that I could whinge about the BBC wasting license payers' money again. Fortunately, (or unfortunately depending on your point of view), I soon began to realise that, sometimes, the whole really is greater than the sum of the parts.

The DVD Set.
In this DVD set, there are five stories. This includes the pilot episodes and all four other storylines that made up the first series. Each storyline is split into two, roughly fifty minute long, episodes, giving a total run time of approximately 475 minutes. At £15.99 (from Play.com), this works out at about 3p per minute, which is incredible value for money compared to feature films.

Characters and Actors.
Trevor Eve (Shoestring) plays Detective Superintendant Peter Boyd. Driven by the disappearance of his son 20 years previously, Boyd wants desperately to bring the closure he so lacks to the families of other victims. Stubborn and egocentric, Eve also manages to inject his character with a wicked sense of humour, an air of confusion and a feeling of urgency.

Detective Sergeant Spencer Jordan, a.k.a. Spence, is played by the newcomer Wil Johnson who, to his credit, shows no sign of intimidation amongst his better-known and more experienced cast colleagues. Constantly at odds with Boyd's less than orthodox methods, Spence seems to think that he should be managing the team, despite have a whole McCains factory of chips on his shoulder.

D.C. Amelia (Mel) Silver is the youngest member of the squad, and as such feels that she has something to prove. Abandoned as a child, and brought up in care, she sees the other members of the team as her real family. Claire Goose (Casualty) plays the part of the young D.C. who relies on her intuition more than her intellect.

Holly Aird (Soldier, Soldier), who plays Dr Frankie Wharton, is probably the most detached from the group. As the forensic scene examiner, she spends most of her time in the 'lab', rather than out and about with the rest of the team. Constantly put upon, it's a wonder she doesn't crack up, especially when you consider that her lab seems to be made up of those plastic strips you get as supermarket bakery doors.

And finally we come to Dr Grace Foley.
For me, the undoubted star of the show, Grace is a middle-aged forensic psychologist with a rye sense of humour. Essentially, a criminal profiler, Grace also acts as the teams own shrink, regularly advising and helping with their personal problems.
Played by the incredible Sue Johnston (Brookside/The Royle Family), it is evident that this actress has so much more to give than mere half hour slots of soap or comedy.

The Storylines.
Rather than review each individual episode, I feel that it would be more productive to review the five storylines which make up this DVD set.

PILOT - WAKING THE DEAD
With the formation of the cold case unit, D.Sup Boyd has the opportunity to go back 5 years, to the kidnap and murder of a young school girl, and try to catch the killer who had evaded him. The re-opening of the case finds its way into the media, and the urges of the killer are reawakened.
When another girl goes missing in similar circumstances, the unit have to work alongside the regular CID to solve the two cases, before they are confronted with another murder.
But when the ransom drop goes wrong, Boyd has to look to his own past to save one of his own.

As a pilot, this story really showed promise, despite lacking the more affluent budget of later series. The characters gelled well with one another, although later episode were to prove more successful with slight manipulations of these relationships.
A few aspects of the original pilot changed when the programme became a series, and these changes can be seen quite easily as you carry on watching later episodes.
Score : 4/5

BURN OUT
Boyd has to restrain a young girl who is setting fire to a car. It turns out that she has never gotten over the death of her father, in a car accident on the same exact spot years ago, and is unable to accept that it was an accident. When things don't seem to add up, Boyd agrees to look at the case again, and it soon becomes apparent that not all is as it seems.

A good start to a new series. This continues the pace of the pilot episodes, with the inter-personal relationships starting to develop, and the characters finding their own niches.
Score : 4/5

THE BLIND BEGGAR
A skeleton found in a church crypt is not exactly front-page news, unless it is encased in concrete and buried in the middle of the floor only a few years previously. Then it becomes a possible murder.
Boyd and the team have to dig deep into the secrets of a church-going community to uncover long-hidden secrets, and long-buried resentments.

Although one of the slower, more genteel storylines, this plot allows for more acting than action, and is well accomplished by the cast. Personalities, therefore, are able to emerge and react to one another without taking away from the story.
Score : 5/5

A SIMPLE SACRIFICE
As the release of a woman, who confessed to murder, approaches, the cold case unit are called into action when an anonymous note arrives, calling into question the truth of the confession itself. As the facts of the case begin to unfold, it becomes clear that the woman was lying. But why? And who was the real killer?

Not one of the best storylines, this plot starts out okay, but becomes contrived and confused. The denouement is never fully explained which does detract somewhat from its effectiveness, although not enough to completely ruin it.
Score : 2/5

EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE
When the body of a 'celebrity' WPC is dragged from the river, Boyd and the team are called in to find out what happened to her. Wading through likely suspect after likely suspect, they soon realise that the key to the whole case lies within the victims own squad room.

Probably the best story of the whole first series, this case twists and turns all over the place, causing tension between the members of the squad, putting relationships at risk and laying down some clearly defined boundaries.
Score : 5/5

Conclusions and Opinions
The more attentive of you will have noticed that the scores for the storylines add up to a very respectable 20/25 or 80% in old money. However the BBC score a resounding NOTHING, or 0%, for this DVD set, for two reasons.

Firstly, as far as I am aware, all the main cast members are still alive. This means that any one of them could have been approached for an interview about the series, or to do a commentary on one of the episodes. Also, 2001 wasn't that long ago. Surely there must be some bloopers or unused scene laying around the cutting room floor.
Instead, the BBC packages up these episodes in a nice shiny box without so much as a by-your-leave to the idea of including any extras. A big disappointment.

Secondly, and this is a pet gripe of mine concerning all BBC-produced DVDs in general; why am I paying £15.99 (Play.com) for this series?
The BBC is a publicly funded body, paid for by TV license fees. I pay for my license fee, and as such have contributed my share toward the making of this programme. Therefore, in buying this DVD, I am in essence buying something I have already paid for.
Would you buy a house, for £100,000 say, then pay another £50,000 for the bricks?
Stupid and downright criminal. DVDs from the BBC should be sold at just above the cost price, which is probably about £1 per disc.

Okay, I have had my rant, let's move on.
WTD is, whether it likes it or not, a British crossbreed of CSI and Cold Case. Unlike CSI, the forensics in WTD are rather basic and old-fashioned, allowing for more fundamental police work. Unlike Cold Case, the storylines are gritty and harder to define.
Both of the American shows are superb in their own right, but both seem so overly concerned with political correctness that they lack the human touch. And that is what WTD has in spades.
Could you imagine Grissom (CSI) having an almighty temper tantrum and smashing the office?
Could you imagine Lily (Cold Case) telling her boss where to stick his ideas?
No !
The Americans can stick to being nice and polite to everybody. We Brits will carrying keeping it REAL.

Just one further thing before I sign off on this review.
I have seen, on many sites, this series advertised as having 3 discs. It doesn't! It has 5, (unless my copy is an anomaly). This doesn't change anything. I just thought you'd like to know.

Would I recommend this DVD box set?

Definitely.