CLASSIC IMAGE OF THE WEEK: "THE SHIELD"

To serve and protect? Michael Chiklis leads the cast of the superb US police drama, THE SHIELD. Image: FOX/FX.

Cutting a defiant and bloody tone stands that breed apart, actor Michael Chiklis, as the cop we love to hate, and hate to love, Vic Mackey, in the often controversial hit FOX series THE SHIELD. This seven season running series created by Shawn Ryan changed the face of the TV landscape in the noughties with regards to our perceptions of life on the streets for cops both in uniform and plain clothes, and showed us a world of policing that was very grey toned, full of compromise, always savagely violent, and often very corrupt, where the police captains were often just as greedy for money, ambitious and willing to stamp on anybody's toes as the drug barons and pimps out in the seedy underbelly nightlife of the City of Angels, with the seemingly untouchable (thanks to friends at the top protecting him) Vic and his task force right in the centre of the action, both verbally and physically, at all times. Yet, despite their incredulous criminal liaisons and their shifty, sometimes spiralling out of control dealings with low life scum and villainy (which were often either hilarious or tragic), in order to secure for themselves the ultimate retirement pensions when they left the force (hopefully alive from all the gangland battles and day to day on the street horrors they had to investigate), Vic and his crew were, in a strange kind of way, still the type of police officers you wanted on your side in a crisis, and generally well liked by the majority of the officers within their precinct (though low betide any man or woman who stood in their way of a good thing!). Vic himself proves to be someone we partially admire, and we certainly cheer him on wholeheartedly when he takes on the cruelest of baddies, but then we have no choice but to "tut, tut" him when we see some of the indefensible and corruptible things he gets up to (like negotiating his cut in profits as a Landlord to a property whose owner sells drugs). And despite a soon nightmare-ish family life, a complex set of relationships with his fellow officers, and a seemingly un-ending cat and mouse battle against his equally corrupt and ambitious Police Captain, David Acaveda (played by Benito Martinez) adding to his life difficulties, Vic intriguingly comes across as a man who enjoys the dangers and unpredictability of the job, something we know he was born to do and lives for, who loves being the king of all his domain in the Farmington District. With all these elements adding to the sheer power and in your face-ness of Chiklis himself, described by fellow actor Catherine Dent as playing "the Al Capone of cops!", it was no surprise that Vic quickly became one of the most memorable and downright unmissable to watch characters of the small screen ever...

Series trailer: YouTube - The Shield Trailer

Standing as an intriguing middle rung in the evolution of TV cop series between NYPD BLUE and today's also excellent SOUTHLAND, THE SHIELD, which also had the talents of ex-HILL STREET BLUES writer/producer Scott Brazil involved in its making, was soon acclaimed by audiences and critics (despite some resistance from advertisers at first unhappy with the series tone), started and ended both strongly and iconically (with an opening pilot that ended on a note of true surprise and shock: a sign of things to come!), was brilliantly cast all the way through with terrific scripts and had exciting story arcs that certainly made their mark on both the characters and the audiences watching the unfolding drama. It also, quite rightly, saw the star power emergence of Michael Chiklis in probably the best lead series role of his career so far, quite rightly reining supreme as the iconic figure who treads the trait lines between being the darkest of devils and almost the most fearless of heroes, and remaining superb, consistent and uncompromising throughout the run, much deserving of his Emmy and Golden Globe award acting honours.

Hard hitting, brutal and probably one of the most realistic portrayals of Law and Order in the United States, backed up with a visual style that was very much semi-documentary and gritty, THE SHIELD delivered a swift punch to our faces which certainly woke us all up in the realms of Television Drama!