When I was a kid the cop shows that were on television featured, more often than not, the cop on the beat. Adam-12 was atypical of the type of show that you'd see - handsome uniformed officers who in the space of a half hour would respond to a number of radio calls and have to deal with situations that required little or no investigation. Over time the genre evolved and expanded its horizons until today where we now have everything from shows that deal with specific units within police forces like the forensic units of the CSI franchise as well as the more standard investigating police procedurals.

Of course no matter what, the modus operandi still remains the same as it did back in the days of the uniformed officer driving his black and white, solving the crime, and maintaining law and order. Shows still start with a crime having been committed and the police force doing their best to solve who done it. The biggest change that's occurred in the years of police dramas is how much time is spent with the police officers outside of their life on the job site. Instead of the characters being one dimensional figures representing the forces of good, they now lead as complicated, if not more complicated lives than the rest of us.

Television writers caught on to the fact that being a police officer and around criminal activity for a large percentage of your day could potentially have an effect upon your existence away from the office. Whether a cop wants to or not he will bring his work home with him from the office as one can't just shut off what one has seen during a day of dealing with anything from murder to traffic offences. This has led to the creation of police dramas with scripts that take into account more than just the character's work life, and that include individuals from the law enforcement officer's home life.

One of this new breed of police procedure shows was the British cop show, starring Scottish actor Tom Conti, DNA, that dealt with the high tech world of modern forensic science. Forensic scientists search a crime scene for microscopic physical evidence that can be used as proof of a person's involvement in a crime. In DNA Tom Conti plays Joseph Donavan, a driven forensic science cop with his own history of medical problems, and a dedication to the job that causes strife on the home front.

While it did air on Canadian television, there probably weren't many opportunities for North American audiences to see this show. Acorn Media has gathered together the first two seasons of the show into a two DVD package, DNA: Complete Series One & Two. Disc one contains the two parts of what must have been the pilot movie from season one, and disc two contains the three episodes from season two.