What I've always preferred about British television over its North American counterpart, is British TV's willingness to take time to develop the relationship between the characters. Kate, Donavon's wife, is shown to have every reason to feel alone and neglected. On the other hand she also truly loves her husband and is incredibly frustrated by his seeming unwillingness to talk with her. She didn't go to the other men for love, but for companionship. Samantha Bond as Kate does a remarkable job of communicating the confusion, frustration, and anger of her character, while still being very convincing expressing her character's love for her husband.

Tom Conti is a wonderful actor and his work as Joseph Donavon is a testimony to his craft. While we sympathize with Joe as he tries to come to grips with his health issues and hope that he solves the crime, he is not the most likeable of people. His tendency to be egocentric and to be a workaholic are a combination that ensures he ignores those around them unless they do something drastic to catch his attention. Conti is able to communicate all of this to his audience simply by having his character go about his business. He is the type of actor who is so comfortable in the skin of the character he is portraying that he can communicate information about that character with a twitch of an eyebrow or the lifting of a shoulder.

DNA, like so many other British television shows, is a well acted and smartly scripted show that relies on intelligence more than shock to hold an audience's attention. The box set of DNA: Complete Series One & Two available from Acorn Media as of May 13,2008 and gives viewers in North America an opportunity to enjoy all five episodes of this well executed police drama. An opportunity that fans of good television won't want to miss out on.