The Shadow Line is a seven-part British television drama miniseries produced by Company Pictures/Eight Rooks Ltd/Baby Cow/CinemaNX production for BBC Two. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Christopher Eccleston, Rafe Spall, Lesley Sharp, Kierston Wareing, Antony Sher and Stephen Rea. The series was written, directed and produced by Hugo Blick.
The first episode was screened on 12 April 2011 at BAFTA's Princess Anne Theatre in Piccadilly, and was followed by a special question and answer session with Hugo Blick and Christopher Eccleston.
Broadcasting of the series started on 5 May 2011 and finished on 16 June 2011. It is currently available on Blu-ray and DVD and for purchase on Amazon Prime.
Synopsis The Shadow Line is about a murder investigation that is investigated by two teams, which are the police and criminals, and the different methods they use to attempt to solve the case. The real plot comes with the morality within each character and how they would go before crossing it. It's also about a secret that should not be revealed.
Production The series is produced by Company Pictures/Eight Rooks Ltd/Baby Cow/CinemaNX/Isle of Man Film for BBC Two. It was mainly shot in the Isle of Man, with some sequences filmed in London.
Music The theme music is an adapted version of the song "Pause" written by Emily Barker and performed by Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo, and made to fit the title sequence scored by Martin Phipps, designed by Peter Anderson Studio
Cast Chiwetel Ejiofor as Detective Inspector (DI) Jonah Gabriel: Amnesiac detective with a bullet in his head who leads the investigation into Harvey Wratten's death. Christopher Eccleston as Joseph Bede: Organised consultant for Harvey Wratten's empire. He has set up a florist business as a front for the drug dealing organisation. Antony Sher as Peter Glickman: Wratten's former partner; now on the run. Stephen Rea as Gatehouse: Elusive primary antagonist notable for his mannerly persuasiveness. Despite handling large sums of cash he is not driven by financial gain but by "control" alone. Rafe Spall as Jay Wratten: Psychotic nephew of Harvey Wratten; eager to find his killer. Kierston Wareing as Detective Sergeant (DS) Lia Honey: Gabriel's detective partner. Richard Lintern as Detective Chief Superintendent (DCS) Richard Patterson: Gabriel's chain-smoking superior; wanted Gabriel take charge of the Wratten case personally. Eve Best as Petra Mayler: Peter Glickman's former mistress. Lesley Sharp as Julie Bede: Joseph Bede's wife; suffering from early onset Alzheimer's. Tobias Menzies as Ross McGovern: Persistent journalist who is getting too close to the truth. Robert Pugh as Bob Harris: Harvey Wratten's business rival; now working with Joseph Bede. Malcolm Storry as Maurice Crace: Joseph Bede's right-hand-man and veteran associate of the Wratten empire. Clare Calbraith as Laura Gabriel: Jonah Gabriel's wife. Sean Gilder as Robert Beatty: Customs officer who has information about Harvey and Jay Wratten's Royal Pardon. David Schofield as Sergeant Foley: Gum-chewing corrupt police officer whose loyalties aren't clear. Stanley Townsend as Bulkat Babur: Turkish heroin supplier who sets up Joseph's last deal. Ace Bhatti as Commander David Khokar: Patterson and Gabriel's commanding officer. Sasha Behar as Laing: Senior customs officer Freddie Fox as Ratallack: Bob Harris' ambitious, wily, young associate. Nicholas Jones as Commander Penney: Retired Police Commissioner. Sharon D. Clarke as Mrs Dixon: Tortured mother of Andy Dixon. Tobi Bakare as Andy Dixon: Driver of Harvey's car the night he was murdered; on the run after witnessing the crime. Charles Kay: Former MI5 agent Sir Richard Halton.
Plot Drugs baron Harvey Wratten and his unstable nephew, Jay (Rafe Spall), are released from prison on a Royal Pardon (which is a rarity). On the drive from prison Harvey is shot execution-style while seated in the back seat of his car. Corrupt copper Sergeant Foley (David Schofield) and his partner find Wratten's body and alert Joseph Bede (Christopher Eccleston), Wratten’s placid and gentle henchman. Jay has already shown his true colours by attacking an associate of Bob Harris’s (Robert Pugh) in a lift for suggesting that they earned their freedom by naming names.
Before his arrest Harvey had Joseph set up a legitimate floral business for a clean "line" to smuggle drugs through. After Harvey is murdered, Joseph discovers that Harvey owed £1,000,000 to a Turkish drugs importer, Bulkat Babur (Stanley Townsend), for the shipment that was seized during his arrest. So Joseph proposes a new deal to the Turk; use his new business to earn enough to cover what is owed plus what he personally invested to start the business and provide care for his rapidly deteriorating wife and then he's out. So Joseph and Babur strike a deal.
The Wratten murder case is given to DI Jonah Gabriel (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who has just returned to work with a bullet lodged in his brain after a bungled undercover job left his partner dead. He has lost all memory of the event. No sooner has the investigation begun than Gabriel finds a case containing hundreds of thousands of pounds hidden in his own home.
Gabriel believes Harvey knew his killer because Wratten had opened the car window. So Gabriel and colleague DS Lia Honey (Kierston Wareing) look for the car driver, petty crook Andy Dixon (Tobi Bakare), to find out what he knows but he is on the run. Jay threatens Andy's mother to find him and then a mysterious man called Gatehouse (Stephen Rea) shows up. His calm, soothing demeanour fools Andy's mother into thinking he can be trusted. After sleeping on the street for a couple of days Andy phones his mother (Sharon D. Clarke) to ask what he should do. She tells him to avoid Jay and the police and she calls Gatehouse. Just as Jay and Gabriel are running toward Andy in the park, Gatehouse calls and instructs him where to go.
Sitting together in his car, Gatehouse persuades Andy Dixon to meet Jay and tell him he "messed up" and that he heard his uncle's killer say "Bob Harris says ‘hello’”. Gatehouse suspects Andy may have seen more and shoots him and his family, making it look as if the young chauffeur has done the deed. Patterson (Richard Lintern), Gabriel's superior, is ready to wrap the case up and call it quits but Gabriel is not convinced the story is legit so Patterson allows him two weeks to solve the case.
During an earlier conversation with another officer, Honey learns that Gabriel didn't register the undercover operation that got him shot and his partner killed. She now has her doubts about Gabriel's reliability and follows him to a house where he is welcomed by a woman who is not his wife (Agni Scott) and a little boy who calls him "Daddy". During that visit the woman repeats her demand that Gabriel tell his pregnant wife, Laura, about her and their son or she will.
Gabriel and Honey stake out Harvey's funeral as a villain named Beatty (Sean Gilder) shows up and expresses his hatred of Harvey to Jay, the only person who came to pay respects. Honey uses this time to confront Gabriel about not registering the operation, which makes it appear as if Gabriel is hiding something; Gabriel can't remember. Just then, the annoying reporter Ross McGovern (Tobias Menzies) shows up and questions why they are there if the case has been closed. Ross, sniffing a story, attempts to chase Beatty on his motorcycle but Gabriel intervenes and breaks the light assembly so he can't pursue. Ironically, Ross soon gets promoted to editor-in-chief and to his dismay, is bluntly told to drop the corruption story and move on. As he rides home to share the good news with his wife, Gatehouse deliberately hits and kills him with his car.
Gabriel gets a surprise visit from Beatty, who turns out to be a customs officer. He tells Gabriel that Harvey earned his pardon for saving his life by alerting police to a car bomb and giving a tip-off about the drug deal. Harvey still has the drugs (hence the rift with Babur, who should have been paid). Beatty also arrests one of Harris's pushers, who names Jay as the informant, which Jay denies.
By studying tube CCTV, Gabriel links the dead Dixon to Gatehouse, who is now in pursuit of Peter Glickman (Antony Sher), a key player in the former drug operation who went into hiding after Harvey's murder. Glickman's son manages to protect his father from Jay and Maurice but after threatening his wife and newborn baby, Gatehouse frightens the son into calling his father. Gatehouse has bugged the son's office and is able to decipher Glickman's phone number and location during the call. Joseph, who is emotionally vulnerable due to his wife's volatile behaviour, has started a brief affair with Petra (Eve Best), Peter Glickman's girlfriend.
Glickman is now living as watch-maker Paul Donnelly in Dublin. Gatehouse arrives at the shop but Glickman is ready for him. During their conversation Glickman detonates a bomb he had installed as a security measure but it fails to kill Gatehouse and both men back off due to the imminent arrival of emergency services. Now back in town, Glickman rings Gabriel and says his dead partner, Delaney, was corrupt; Patterson defends Gabriel's integrity. Glickman meets Joseph and it transpires that Gatehouse had the money for the drugs in the transaction with Babur but Glickman failed to pay up. Harris's boyfriend, Ratallack (Freddie Fox), proposes that he take over the deal with Joseph. Harris is seen as a complication and is assassinated (presumably by Gatehouse).
Glickman meets Gabriel, telling him that Gatehouse will give him the answers he needs but to beware, because Gatehouse will use his "secrets" to hurt him. Gabriel assumes this means his ex-mistress and their son. Glickman also suggests that he visit retired Commander Penney (Nicholas Jones) and ask about "Counterpoint".
Gabriel is soon visited by Gatehouse at Alison's flat. With Gatehouse at the door, in flashbacks, Gabriel remembers that it was Gatehouse who shot Delaney and the bullet that passed through his partner's head lodged into his own. Gatehouse explains that he killed Delaney because he was corrupt and he deliberately spared Gabriel. Gatehouse offers a journal of Delaney's notes as proof (the notebook was blank) but Gabriel astutely observes that Gatehouse is wearing gloves (a sign that an execution was imminent). At that moment Glickman, who has been hiding in the bedroom, jumps out and shoots Gatehouse twice. Unfortunately, Gabriel's son wanders into the crossfire and is struck and killed instantly. In the uproar that follows Glickman leaves without finishing Gatehouse off. Glickman then calls Petra and wants to meet. Inexplicably, she kills him and then attempts to murder Gatehouse in his hospital room but he kills her.
As Gabriel's memory returns he makes inquiries and discovers the money in the briefcase is marked and was actually part of a sting, not a dirty deal. Although Delaney was originally corrupt, Patterson partnered him with Gabriel in hopes that he would stop being dirty (which he did). The operation that night was not logged because corrupt officers (like Foley) might blow the cover. He tells Patterson, who warns him that their superior, Commander Khokar (Ace Bhatti), is not to be trusted. Joseph Bede's henchman, Maurice, tips off Sergeant Foley about Joseph's forthcoming deal with Babur.