"Ultraviolet" is both a fascinating thriller, and an insightful take on how the production of television drama is changing. Originally made in 1998 for Channel 4 in the UK, "Ultraviolet" is a six episode series which deals with a policeman who gets brought into a special investigation squad. Their specialty? Tracking down Code Five - vampires. While there are comparisons to The X-Files, "Ultraviolet" was intended to be six episodes, so the episodes don't meander, and remains faithful to its own internal consistency.

If you are familiar with British police procedurals, "Prime Suspect" comes to mind. There is no absolute good and bad, things are shaded gray.

In the case of "Ultraviolet", it has an interesting update of vampires (the word is never used in the series) who don't appear in mirrors, cameras, videos or other electronic means, and whose voice can't be picked up by microphones. The issues covered in the series are also up to date including abortion, pedophiles, environmental destruction, AIDS and the stock market.

This is a suspenseful mystery thriller which concentrates on the cops, you rarely see the vampires, and there is very little gore. With the exception of HBO and short, concentrated series like "Oz", few US productions concentrate on the story and a major arc in one season in their production, instead the prime movers of a fast payoff in audience share for ads and syndication mean that quality is way down the list, and every show eventually jumps the shark.

If there is one drawback to this DVD, it is that the extras are very skimpy, basically some biographies, and two poorly recorded audio interviews with writer/director Joe Ahearne.