55 Degrees North - Series 1 & 2 [DVD]

This was a good series and certainly showed one aspect of life in the North East and those knowledgeable of the Newcastle area would have enjoyed the local scenes and scenery. The first series ended unexpectedly and with many loose ends - what happened to the old car for example?- and the second series, although longer, still left a few cliffhangers - perhaps they were expecting a third series but never made it.With the limited cast and with all the story lines centred around that one main character this was never going to be another The Bill but I would have enjoyed it more if there had been a better closure.

Bought this completely on chance, I have never even heard of the show - to be honest I thought it was going to be a US cop show, clearly I wasn't being very attentive to the write up.Fantastic, great story lines, whilst the detective stories matter the main part of the series is dealing with all the relationships, whether at work, how does a black detective fit into an exclusively white police station, the differences between London and Newcastle, the difficulties related to the fact DS Nicky Cole had to leave London after reporting one of his bosses for corruption and so the resentment and perceived resentment towards him for that. The home life story of Nicky doomed always to work night shifts, living with his uncle and nephew who are also trying to settle in a new place, it brilliantly portrayed. Quite a complicated underlying story line of trust issues, but enjoyable and uplifting with some good laughs and good characters.What a pity there were only two series. It was great.

This suffers some lack of credibility factor. Scene setting against all the landmarks-not enough of the grit and grot of Tyneside, particularly for a cop story-some of the relationship setting is a bit far fetched but none the less there is a warmth that runs through it that works. Overall each episode ran a good story-none fell flat or felt laboured-well mybe the last was a bit predictable and annoying. Some great humour, characther development and the dialogue/piss takes are sharp and funny. And you know what, it was easy to view and enjoy but probably wise to leave it after two series. probably would watch parts of it again, if nothing else to remind what beautiful places there are in and around Newcastle.

The bottom line is that my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the series and the chance to watch every episode in our own time. The lead characters are attractive and the dialogue terrific (it's sharp enough to make you think of Frasier). Watching the fourteen episodes one after the other makes it clear that the programme changed as time went on - entertaining newcomers arrive, while two or three less successful characters disappear entirely.There are plenty of loose ends left for the third series which never materialised; I guess the stars weren't available or the money wasn't there. To be honest, I'm not sure further episodes would have been such a good idea - there are a few times when we get very close to soap opera territory. So I suggest you settle for the fact that you get the entire set - nearly 14 hours - for about 50p an episode.

When the 1st series was shown on TV here in Australia, I was blown over. So much mystery & unanswered questions.It finished on an unexpected note and I was looking forward towards the 2nd series. It never was shown and I couldn't figure out why.Then after purchasing the complete set, watched series 1 again, then straight into #2.What a let down. All the unaswered questions never got a look in. Suddenly it turned into a pretty soft family drama.What a waste of a great cast.Guess the scriptwriter/s were asked to change the whole feel of show.

There are some promising things about this series, the idea of a black detective in the North east establishes a similar situation to Tennyson in Prime Suspect. Everyone seems to be against him and he is under pressure to get results which is not easy as he doesn't know the area well. So far so good, but storylines are pretty dull, and sadly the secondary characters are mostly streotypes. There are some good moements but I can not really recommend this series. Compared to an American drama like Justified it is sadly lacking.

My partner and I have been into this type of show since devouring "Ashes to Ashes", "Waking the Dead", "Spooks" and many other box sets from start to finish. This was a recommendation by Amazon and it sounded great so I ordered it. It blew us away so much that we watched all 14 episodes inside 4 sittings. It is simply superb! The plots, the locations....everything is top notch, and almost all of the main characters are so likeable that you'll miss them as soon as the closing credits roll. I'll go so far as to say that it is the BEST detective show that has ever been committed to celluloid.Please, Please, Please....do another series. It should have run for decades.

This is a top show. I never got on with The Bill since it became more of a serial as I couldn't commit to it. With this, you get the best of both worlds-there's a new story each week but a recurring one all the way through the series. Great acting, loads of twists, suspenseful and very funny. It reminds me of Cagney and Lacey a bit-apart from the fact that the main cops aren't women, but has that mix of pathos, humour and pain. The final episode of series 2 is well worth the price of the box set! Def. one to buy!!