On the face of it, The Wire seems like another cop show but it’s so much more than that. It’s a reflection on the modern American city, specifically Baltimore, Maryland. With each season the scope of the show expands and many new characters and organisations are brought into focus, as well as continuing the stories and themes from previous seasons.

Season 1 sees a Baltimore Police detail set up to investigate a West Baltimore drug dealing gang.

Season 2 focuses on the working class dock workers at the city port while continuing the drug related themes from the first season.

Season 3 goes back to the escalating drug and crime problems on the city’s streets while also looking at the politics of City Hall and the role it plays.

Season 4 brings the eduction system into view and examines the likely fates of the schoolkids.

Season 5 will be about the media and about how what is reported and what isn’t reported affects society.

The show has an all round authenticity rarely seen in fictional television or film. One of the two main reasons for this is that a lot of the actors are from Baltimore and some of them aren’t even professional actors but are basically playing themselves. The other reason is that the two creative forces behind The Wire, David Simon and Ed Burns, have lived through a lot of the events depicted in the show. Simon was a reporter with The Baltimore Sun and Burns was a homicide detective who became a schoolteacher.

It’s gritty, it’s realistic, it’s intense and at times it’s also funny. You need to pay close attention to every scene because nothing is given to the audience easily. It’s all in the details. But if you put in the work in meeting the show halfway then you’ll be rewarded in spades. So much so in fact, that it will spoil every other programme you watch. In particular, any other cop show will look laughably amateur.

I can’t recommend this show enough. If you only ever listen to one thing I say then listen to this… watch The Wire!

Like ‘Mystic River’, ‘Gone Baby Gone’ is set in Boston, Massachusetts, the city where Lehane grew up. Affleck plays a private detective who is asked by a local family to investigate the disappearance of a 4 year old girl. His leads take him and his partner throughout the tough neighbourhood, dealing with the scummiest of the scum. Also excellent is Amy Ryan as the young girl’s mother, a lowlife junkie.

I don’t want to spoil the film by giving any more details than are necessary but I’ll just say that it flows along nicely and always has you questioning, even after the end. This well told story earns 6 crumbs out of 10 from me.

Set mainly in 1970s New York, it’s beautifully shot and the performances are excellent, as you’d expect from Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. The way the story develops and concludes is very reminiscent of the first season of The Wire. Since that’s the greatest TV show ever, it’s certainly not a bad thing. If you’re gonna steal, you might as well steal from the best.

Overall, I give it 4 crumbs out of 10.