Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-05-26
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 330 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Edge of Darkness (1985) begins routinely enough. Emma Craven (Joanne Whalley in her first staring role, a year before The Singing Detective in 1986) is a young environmental activist killed in mysterious circumstances. Emma's father, Ron Craven, (Bob Peck in a star-making performance) will not be silenced and, as a police detective, is uniquely positioned to pursue his own unofficial investigation. He moves from grief to a determination to find the truth, all the while advised and/or comforted by Emma, but is she a ghost or a manifestation of his haunted psyche? Craven digs deeper, uncovering labyrinthine conspiracy in the nuclear industry and, as the body-count rises, encounters the garrulous CIA agent Darius Jedburgh (a superb Joe Don Baker) with a mysterious agenda of his own. Accompanied by a haunting musical score by Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton, Edge of Darkness builds on the legacy of Tinker Tailor, Soldier Spy and Smiley's People to become quite simply the best television thriller ever. Originally shown in six, 50-minute episodes, this tape presents the first half of the groundbreaking environmental-espionage shocker, tightening the ratchets of suspense to levels which would have turned Hitchcock himself green ... with envy. --Gary S. Dalkin

Amazon.co.uk Review
Groundbreaking environmental-espionage shocker Edge of Darkness (1985) begins routinely enough but then ratchets the suspense to levels that would have turned Hitchcock green with envy. Emma Craven (Joanne Whalley in her first starring role) is a young environmental activist killed in mysterious circumstances. Emma's father Ron Craven (Bob Peck in a star-making performance) will not be silenced and, as a police detective, is uniquely positioned to pursue his own unofficial investigation. He moves from grief to a determination to find the truth, all the while advised and comforted by Emma, but is she a ghost or a manifestation of his haunted psyche? Craven digs deeper, uncovering labyrinthine conspiracy in the nuclear industry and, as the body-count rises, encounters the garrulous CIA agent Darius Jedburgh (a superb Joe Don Baker) with a mysterious agenda of his own. Accompanied by a haunting musical score by Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton, Edge of Darkness builds on the legacy of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People to become quite simply the best television thriller ever.

On the DVD: Edge of Darkness is presented on a two-disc set with the original six episodes complete and unedited (unlike the previous DVD release). The picture and sound has been improved, too, though the 4:3 image still suffers from the graininess of having been shot on 16 mm film and the sound is still unspectacular mono. The main extra is an excellent new 35-minute documentary, "Magnox: the Secrets of Edge of Darkness", with input from producer Michael Wearing, writer Troy Kennedy-Martin, composer Michael Kamen, stars John Woodvine, Charles Kay and Ian McNeice and archive footage with Bob Peck and Joe Don Baker. A notable bonus for fans of Eric Clapton and Kamen's highly atmospheric score is an isolated music track, unfortunately in mono. Less significant are a routine photo gallery, an alternative edit of the final end title and promotional segments from Breakfast Time and Pebble Mill. A BAFTA Award feature (the series won six) is more engaging, as is a roundtable review from Did You See?. --Gary S. Dalkin

DVD Description
This futuristic chiller features music by Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton. Escorting his daughter home from college, Detective Inspector Craven watches helplessly as she is gunned down in cold blood. Hell-bent on revenge, his search for her killer leads him on a terrifying one-way trip to the heart of the nuclear state.

Running Time: 330 minutes + 71 minutes approx.

Customer Reviews

Must-watch TV becomes Must-own DVD
Time has not been desperately kind to this classic from the days when the BBC was not afraid of political controversy and was able to commission serious drama for an audience whose attention span could run for fifty minutes a time over six weeks. It is ironic that the thing that made it so compelling at the time - its cutting edge, up-to-the-moment topicality - now lends it a slight air of antiquity. Having said that, this thriller (and the term is used accurately here) has a cast that could have graced any Academy Awards Ceremony (Bob Peck, Joanne Whalley, Jo Don Baker, Tim McInnery and a cast of other actors who have since become familiar BBC stalwarts) and their skills are utilised to the full by the slow-burn, screw-turning script of Troy Kennedy-Martin, brilliantly interpreted and paced by director Martin Campbell and underpinned by Kamens' and Clapton's haunting, iconic soundtrack.

The action is often deliberately slow-paced, but the shocking start hooks you in to events and watching the jigsaw pieces fit slowly into place to join past, present and future is compulsive. Bob Peck's performance is spellbinding, Joanne Whalley is captivating and Jo Don Baker's larger than life Texan, Jedburg, steals every scene. This series contends with "The Forsythe Saga" and "I, Claudius" as the best drama the BBC ever produced; it undoubtedly remains the best thriller. At last we have edge-of-the-seat, must-watch TV converted (third time lucky) into must-own DVD.

Milestone TV Drama
Bob Pecks gripping performance in Edge of Darkness has stayed in my mind ever since it was first broadcast. I have always been transfixed and absorbed by this powerful story. From the pen of Troy Kennedy Martin, the genius direction of Martin Campbell, the Cinematographic magic of Andrew Dunn and the haunting inevitability depicted in the music score by Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton. I watched the repeats and now bought the DVD set. This set new standards for stylish and gritty British Drama. How terribly sad that Bob Peck is no longer with us. With equally brilliant performances from all cast including Jo Don Baker, Charles Kay, John Woodvine and Zoe Wanamaker, It will be watched time and again in years to come and still have the same impact.

At last!
Ludicrously, this is the third time Edge of Darkness has been released on DVD. The first release was, as many reviews here noted, a complete joke - one of the worst DVD transfers ever. The second was fractionally better, with improved sound and picture quality and some extras, including an enlightening Troy Kennedy Martin essay which (if I'm remembering this right) first saw the light as the introduction to the long-since-deleted Faber edition of the screenplay. It's fantastic that the BBC has finally put out an unedited, decently mastered version, but it leaves those of us who shelled out £PRICE for the previous versions in a bit of a quandary: to buy again, or not? On a broader note, perhaps this is evidence that the Beeb is starting to rethink its barbaric practice of licensing out classic archive material to companies for whom quality of finished product is very much not a priority. About bloody time.