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IMDbPro

The Shadow Line

  • TV Mini Series
  • 2011
  • 1h
IMDb RATING
8.0/10
4.8K
YOUR RATING
The Shadow Line (2011)
Christopher Eccleston and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in this intricate conspiracy thriller set in a world of blurred morality, inhabited by conflicted characters on both sides of the law.
Play trailer1:56
1 Video
10 Photos
CrimeDramaMystery

Christopher Eccleston and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in this intricate conspiracy thriller set in a world of blurred morality, inhabited by conflicted characters on both sides of the law.Christopher Eccleston and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in this intricate conspiracy thriller set in a world of blurred morality, inhabited by conflicted characters on both sides of the law.Christopher Eccleston and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in this intricate conspiracy thriller set in a world of blurred morality, inhabited by conflicted characters on both sides of the law.

  • Stars
    • Chiwetel Ejiofor
    • Christopher Eccleston
    • Kierston Wareing
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    8.0/10
    4.8K
    YOUR RATING
    • Stars
      • Chiwetel Ejiofor
      • Christopher Eccleston
      • Kierston Wareing
    • 56User reviews
    • 2Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 BAFTA Award
      • 4 wins & 6 nominations total

    Episodes8

    Browse episodes
    TopTop-rated1 Season

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 1:56
    Watch Trailer

    Photos10

    Richard Lintern in The Shadow Line (2011)
    Chiwetel Ejiofor in The Shadow Line (2011)
    The Shadow Line (2011)
    Lesley Sharp in The Shadow Line (2011)
    Christopher Eccleston in The Shadow Line (2011)
    Rafe Spall in The Shadow Line (2011)
    Christopher Eccleston in The Shadow Line (2011)
    Christopher Eccleston, Stephen Rea, and Chiwetel Ejiofor in The Shadow Line (2011)
    Christopher Eccleston, Stephen Rea, and Chiwetel Ejiofor in The Shadow Line (2011)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Chiwetel Ejiofor
    Chiwetel Ejiofor
    • DI Jonah Gabriel…
    Christopher Eccleston
    Christopher Eccleston
    • Joseph Bede
    Kierston Wareing
    Kierston Wareing
    • DS Lia Honey…
    Richard Lintern
    Richard Lintern
    • DCS Richard Patterson…
    Malcolm Storry
    Malcolm Storry
    • Maurice Crace
    Clare Calbraith
    Clare Calbraith
    • Laura Gabriel
    Stephen Rea
    Stephen Rea
    • Gatehouse
    Rafe Spall
    Rafe Spall
    • Jay Wratten
    Lesley Sharp
    Lesley Sharp
    • Julie Bede
    David Schofield
    David Schofield
    • Sergeant Foley
    Tobias Menzies
    Tobias Menzies
    • Ross McGovern
    Freddie Fox
    Freddie Fox
    • Ratallack
    Eve Best
    Eve Best
    • Petra Mayler
    Christopher Adamson
    Christopher Adamson
    • Richards
    Robert Pugh
    Robert Pugh
    • Bob Harris
    Sean Gilder
    Sean Gilder
    • Robert Beatty
    Stanley Townsend
    Stanley Townsend
    • Bulkat Babur
    Ace Bhatti
    Ace Bhatti
    • Commander Khokar
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Connections
      Featured in Breakfast: Episode dated 5 May 2011 (2011)
    • Soundtracks
      Pause
      (main theme)

      Written and performed by Emily Barker

      Produced by Martin Phipps

    User reviews56

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    9/10
    Things to do in London when you're Dead
    Hugo Blick, the writer and director of 'The Shadow Line', has spoken of his inspirations as a television dramatist: the incomparable 'The Singing Detective' (a story based on buried personal drama); 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' (with its deceptively quiet middle aged protagonists); and 'Edge of Darkness' (and its mood of general paranoia). On watching his series, however, I was reminded of some American films: 'Things to to in Denver When You're Dead', and 'Brick', for example, as well as many of the works of David Mamet. What these tales have in common is a certain stylised dialogue, and more generally an internally consistent world which only partly resembles our own and which exists entirely within the prism of its own construction. In the case of 'The Shadow Line', Blick manages to keep this going for seven full hours, mostly successfully: the series is artfully shot and orchestrated and full of memorable scenes, the devilish and inventive plot even makes some sort of sense in the end, and a superb gaggle of character actors rise superbly to the script, none more so than Stephen Rea whose wonderfully-named character Gatehouse is the role of a lifetime. It's not perfect, however: with a plot so intricate, and an entire drama consisting of the sorts of encounter that might normally be found only at the most critical moment, there's no room for normality: it's hard to care about the characters or even, in it's most baffling moments, the story, however much one is absorbed; the personal elements are not as superfluous as might be thought half-way through, but one's still more likely to laugh as the preposterous twists as one is to cry for the death of one of the few sympathetic figures. Against a backdrop of such a superb cast, Chiwetel Ejiofor is a little lightweight in the lead role; and with so many characters, almost all of them dodgy, that at times one can lose track of which is which. But it's bold and inventive, a character-led drama whose characters are (in the real world) scarcely plausible, but who make perfect, chilling sense on the other side of the line.
    helpful•16
    4
    • paul2001sw-1
    • Jun 17, 2011

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • February 19, 2012 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Граница тени
    • Production companies
      • Company Pictures
      • Eight Rooks Productions
      • Baby Cow Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1

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