History Series / WireInTheBlood

* MarriedToTheJob: Carol.
* MurderByProxy: "Bad Seed" involves Tony dealing with a series of murders by mutilation that he suspects is the work of [[{{Narcissist}} William McAdams]] aka Mack The Knife, a budding killer back in the seventies who's now supposedly been cured. However, [=McAdams=] has an alibi for each murder. As Tony discovers, [=McAdams=] has secretly been in communication with a vulnerable youth whom he's convinced is his son, and is using him to carry out the murders.

* TheProfiler: Tony.

* UnsettlingGenderReveal: Angelica Bain, the killer of 'The Mermaids Singing', is believed to be a man. When she holds Tony hostage, she's revealed to be a pre-op MtF transperson. Tony believes she's actually a DepravedHomosexual man, but she's played as a deeply disturbing sadist, and SissyVillain.

''Wire in the Blood'' was a British crime thriller series, based [[Literature/TonyHillAndCarolJordan on the ''Tony Hill'' novel series]] by Val [=McDermid=], that ran for six seasons from 2002 to 2008 on Creator/{{ITV}}. The central character is an eccentric clinical psychologist named Tony Hill (played by Creator/RobsonGreen). Tony has such great insight into the minds of the criminals that he often seems sympathetic to them. He is able to mentally become the killer for the purposes of catching him.

!!'''Contains examples of:'''

* AdaptationalVillainy: An interesting inversion... the show was an adaptation of Val Mc Dermid's book series, with many changes along the way. Perhaps the biggest was the elimination of the Carol Jordan character when Hermione Norris decided to leave the show. She was replaced with Simone Lahib's Alex Fielding, who became the new heroine/ co-lead for the remainder of the TV series. However, after the TV series ended in 2008, Mc Dermid introduced Alex Fielding into the books in 2013's ''Cross and Burn''... this Alex Fielding looks and sounds like the TV version, but is a completely awful person, and a major antagonist in the book, even believing Tony is a killer and arresting him.

* SerialKillerBaiting: In "Torment" the team is looking at an utterly bizarre case of murders involving prostitutes being bled to death that exactly resembles a previous killing spree committed by a convicted mental patient. In an attempt to be proactive DC Paula McIntyre volunteers to pose as a prostitute hoping to bait the killer. Unfortunately it goes horribly wrong and ends with the killer somehow abducting Paula [[spoiler: as in reality both killing sprees are being masterminded by Vice Officer [[DirtyCop DI Shields]] who knew all the details of the sting]].

* UnsettlingGenderReveal: Angelica Bain, the killer of 'The Mermaids Singing', is believed to be a man. When she holds Tony hostage, she's revealed to be a pre-op MtF transperson. Tony believes she's actually a DepravedHomosexual man, but she's played as a deeply disturbing sadist, and SissyVillain. A very good example of ValuesDissonance, despite the show not being ''that'' old.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: of course Tony gets this, especially considering how he immerses himself in the minds of violent killers.

* SerialKillerBaiting: In "Torment" the team is looking at an utterly bizarre case of murders involving prostitutes being bled to death that exactly resembles a previous killing spree committed by a convicted mental patient. In an attempt to be proactive [[TheChick DC Paula McIntyre]] volunteers to pose as a prostitute hoping to bait the killer. Unfortunately it goes horribly wrong and ends with the killer somehow abducting Paula [[spoiler: as in reality both killing sprees are being masterminded by Vice Officer [[DirtyCop DI Shields]] who knew all the details of the sting]].

* TruthInTelevision: all over the place when it comes to the crimes themselves, particularly the psychology and profiling of the serial killers, which is almost brutally accurate - sometimes even to RealityIsUnrealistic lengths.

Unlike most shows, which run at 45 minutes per episode, ''Wire in the Blood'' runs at 90 minutes per episode. Given the immense detail used in the stories, the show simply wouldn't work with shorter episodes.

* FurnaceBodyDisposal: In the book (''The Wire in the Blood'') it's mentioned that after torturing, raping, and killing his victims, Jacko Vance put their bodies and anything else that linked them to him into the furnace at the hospital where he volunteered.

* NotSoDifferent: Tony is cleared of the crimes he's suspected of, but he's weird enough that everyone suspects he ''could'' be guilty. Mack the Knife in "Bad Seed" points out that Tony really isn't all that different from "the nutters he studies".