The Shield Box Set

During any other era The Shield would have been unanimously voted top crime-based drama, but it had the misfortune to clash with the also excellent Sopranos and The Wire. Premiered in 2002, the series has, quite simply, got better and better with each episode. Focussing on the often criminal activities of the Strike Team, an anti-gang unit (based on the real-life notorious LAPD Ramparts Division’s CRASH Unit) The Shield shies away from nothing you would find in real life: frame-ups; murders; drug thefts; political back-stabbing; sexual assault. With no plot spoilers (hard, when you have a lovely SEVEN series to look forward to on DVD) here is a basic breakdown.

The Strike Team

Detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis)
Mackey is corrupt, homicidal and controlling. He is also the star of the whole shebang. Seeing his role of tackling the gangs on their own terms a necessary evil, he is always one step ahead of his superiors, and the criminals. He seems to have a heart – he is married and has two kids who he seems to dote on.

Detective Shane Vendrell (Walter Goggins)
Shane is Mackey’s best friend, and was his partner when both were normal street cops. Shane looks up to Mackey on the Strike Team. Often a bit slow on the up-take, Shane has an impulsive streak that often leads to disaster – which Mackey often has to clean up. Character evolves as the series' progress.

Detective Curtis ‘Lem’ Lemansky (Kenny Johnson)
Of all the Strike Team, Lem seems to be the one with the biggest conscience. He is ultra-loyal to Mackey and the team, but is also not fully aware of all of the criminal behaviour that goes on. Seems confilcted with some of the more unsavoury acts the team commit.

Detective Ronnie Gardocki (David Rees Snell)
The Strike Team’s electronics and surveillance expert and apparently the most solid, dependable, sane member of the team. Loyal, quiet and not prone to flying off the handle, Ronnie nonetheless is fully committed to the Strike Team’s style.

The Strike Team are based in the Farm (Farmington) a fictional Los Angeles precinct headed up by Captain Martinez, a politically motivated suit cop who has major problems with the Strike Team's methodology. Also taking major roles are Detective Claudette Wyms and Detective Holland ‘Dutch’ Wagenbach. There are numerous superb uniform cops over the seven series. Over the course of the seven series we see Latino crack gangs go to war; Amermenian gangs moving into the United States with brutal efficiency; cops having mental breakdowns; drug addictions; serial killers . . .well, it's all good. Buy the lot. Don't look back.