Stakes are High! Vampire’s Bid For Control

Review by Jane Killick, TVZone Issue 104, November 1998

Refining vampire mythology for the Millennium, Ultraviolet already become a classic in its genre.

If you’ve been watching Ultraviolet on Channel 4, you can’t have failed to be hooked by this slick, atmospheric vampire thriller. It has to be the most promising genre offering to have emerged on British television in years, but it arrived virtually without warning.

The series was filmed between February and June this year under the working title Crossing The Line and was deliberately publicized as ‘a cop show with a difference starring This Life’s Jack Davenport’ with strictly no mention of the ‘v’ word. The creative genius behind the project, writer and director Joe Ahearne, feared the genre’s camp tradition would put people off and banned it from the series. "We were very keen to not use the vampire word at all," he says. "The thing was, when we came out of the closet, everyone was going ‘oh wow vampires on telly - that’s great!’

"In this series I wanted to ask what if vampires existed today, what would they look like and how would they live?" Joe continues. And what if, rather than the lone figure in most vampire stories, they had organized? How would modern society respond to the threat? What issues within today’s society would be called into question?"

This Afterlife

Detective Sergeant Michael Colefield (Jack Davenport) becomes embroiled in this world when his best friend and police partner, Jack, disappears, leaving his fiancée, Kirsty, at the altar. Michael discovers Jack was on the take, working with the creatures of the night to print counterfeit money, but when his crime was uncovered he decided to become one of them rather than go on the run. Michael confronts Jack and is forced to kill his best friend, who explodes into a pile of ashes.

Michael is recruited into the Squad, a government funded group that hunts down vampires and neutralises them. But he finds himself working for more than just a seek-and-destroy unit, as every member of the team has a very personal reason for being there.

"It was a challenge to try and show how Michael reacts on his own paranoia and the paranoia that surrounds him," says actor Jack Davenport. "Michael’s not always as straight forward as he might seem, and he’s in an impossible situation. The vampires have renounced their humanity, but Michael really questions, what the Squad are asked to sacrifice in pursuit of this enemy. His relationship with the other Squad members, are very strained in pursuit of this enemy. He also isn’t prepared to give up his personal life, especially after his best mate Jack’s disappearance leaves Kirsty on her own."

Pearse’s Power

The Squad themselves are diverse group of people. All with a vampire connection rooted deep in their past. Their leader Pearse Harman, a priest with links to the Vatican who has found power and status in the Squad the church couldn’t offer. “Although Pearse is not a conventional active priest anymore, many of his scenes are very confessional,” says actor Philip Quast. “The covert work of the Squad means that the members are forced into an almost priest like existence, so in that sense Pearse has the advantage as he’s use to isolation.

Professional Widow

Angie’s pain at losing her husband and daughter to the enemy six years ago has not diminished, although she tries to hide it with single-minded dedication to her job. “[It’s] almost too professional.” says Susannah. “ It’s how she protects herself.”

Vaughan Rice completes the team. A former soldier who is ruthless in his pursuit of the enemy, he also reveals a hidden tenderness and protectiveness towards Angie. Actor Idris Elba says. “It’s a challenge to play a character who shows no feelings and who juggles with people with authority. He has some great lines, though, and a very dry sense of humour. He has a deep respect for his colleagues and an absolute determination to defeat the vampires who are the ultimate adversary".

Individual Stories

The six episodes of Ultraviolet all tell an individual story, but within that are the personal stories of the people whose lives are touched by the creatures of the night, and the mystery of what the vampires truly want. The Squad initially believes they have organized themselves to protect their food source as Humanity heads towards self-destruction. But as events unfold, that view is challenged and the Squad begins to wonder if vampires really want to take control, or if they just want peace.

“Vampires are obviously a fundamentally illogical concept, but in the series we have applied logic to the genre to see how far we can push it,” concludes Joe Ahearne. “Concepts of evil have changed so much and I am interested in testing how ‘good’ characters might respond to the threat that vampires would pose. The series treats vampires seriously - as far as it is possible to do so- and the actors bring real emotional credibility and suspense. Hopefully audiences will feel unsettled by the series but also enjoy how we have transformed the vampire tradition and had fun with it.”