Messiah - The First Killings / The Reckoning

Starring: Juliet Diamond, Kieran OBrien Director: Diarmuid Lawrence Original UK Premiere: 2001 Dvd Release: 24th February, 2003 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: PAL, Widescreen, Region 2 Encoding

Article Index: [Background Info] [DVD Extras] [DVD Review] [Articles/Resources] [Link To This Article] Looking To Buy? Buy This DVD Here

Messiah is a British television drama series, broadcast on the BBC One network & produced in-house by BBC Northern Ireland, although the series itself is set in England. Made up of a series of occasional serials, the first, subtitled The First Killings, was broadcast in 2001. The Promise. the subsequent instalments have been written directly for television. Starling has a cameo as a murder victims corpse in the first serial. A crime series, it follows the investigations of DCI Red Metcalfe, who often investigates particularly gruesome murders. Metcalfe is played by Scottish actor Ken Stott & the other main regulars in the series are Kate Beauchamp, Duncan Warren & Metcalfes wife Susan. The deafness of Forbes character necessitated both her & Stott learning British Sign Language for their characters frequent exchanges. The title Messiah, strictly speaking, relates only to the original series, where a serial killer sets out to kill twelve men with the same names as the apostles, in the same way that the original apostles were killed, eg.

DVD Extras: a 30-minute behind-the-scenes documentary interviews all the key cast members on their thoughts of grisly imagery & working with one another. The producers have plenty to say on the original script & use of red herrings to distract us. Writer Boris Starling is comically talked to while in make-up as one of the victims. A few deleted scenes, text biographies of cast & crew & a gallery of 12 photos round out the extras package.

The on-screen infatuation with serial killers continues with Messiah, an absorbing, intelligent two-part BBC TV film thats a close cousin to David Finchers Seven. Based on the novel by Boris Starling , Messiah follows Detective Chief Inspector Red Metcalfe in tracking down someone with a Christ complex in a murder-case involving 12 Apostles. A fine line is trod in presenting enough horror so as to intrigue, but not so much as to repel. Decapitations, cut out tongues & flayed skin are all masked in shadow or reflection. More attractive to the eye is a strong cast including Edward Woodward as the cases religious consultant & the keeper of Metcalfes wayward brother & Michelle Forbes as his deaf wife . Other notables are Ron Berglas as the unemotional expositional pathologist & Gillian Taylforth as the beleaguered wife of corruptible copper Duncan . With fine supporting work from Frances Grey, Jamie Draven, Art Malik & 25,000 flies, youll be racking your brains to spot the killer. Expect to jump several times along the way.

©2004-2008 DVDArk.co.uk