DigiGuide Forums

The killer no one suspects
After a successful run on FX last year, US cult favourite Dexter finally comes to network TV. This opening episode gives us an insight into the two sides of Dexter Morgan. By day he's a charming, dedicated, police forensics expert, who goes out of his way to dispense pleasantries and play with his girlfriend's young children. By night he's a calculated and ruthless killer, a vigilante who stalks his prey with vicious intent, killing murderers, rapists and child molesters who have somehow eluded justice.

Dexter is Miami's premier serial killer (although, due to his expertise, no one is aware of his crimes), but that status is threatened when a new series of baffling and expertly carried out murders starts to occur in the city. Urged by his police officer sister Debra (who is desperate to escape her current role as an undercover vice girl and become a homicide detective), Dexter becomes involved in the case. Soon he's drawn to his new rival, realising that he may have finally met his match.

Although a hit in the US, Dexter was one of last year's best-kept secrets on British TV. Based on the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, this TV adaptation is a slick, darkly funny and engrossing affair which somehow manages to achieve the impossible feat of presenting a serial killer as an endearing character who you want to escape justice. This is in no small part down to Michael C. Hall's outstanding performance in the lead role, providing a memorising, charming and yet menacing turn.

There will, of course, be questions about the morality of glorifying a man who kills, dismembers and disposes of people on a regular basis, but the show makes no apologies for operating in such a morally ambiguous environment. Dexter is what he is. Orphaned at four and adopted by serving police detective Harry Morgan and his wife, he realised in his early years that he had an unrelenting urge to kill. Dexter's father knew that there was nothing he could do to stop his adopted son's urges. Instead he taught Dexter that killing is justifiable if the victims "deserve it" and that Dexter can administer his own justice as long as he obeys a certain code. The code keeps him from being suspected and, in turn, helps him to escape justice. To achieve this Dexter must feign interest in the daily activities that most people take for granted, emulating human emotions that he cannot comprehend or feel himself, in order to keep up his appearance as a responsible, caring and normal person.

The fact that Dexter only turns his murderous urges towards those who many would consider to deserve retribution is constantly reinforced throughout the programme, so much so that eventually you find it hard to disapprove of his actions. The gore is never gratuitously featured and while we are given an unflinching insight into Dexter at work, most of the bloodier and violent scenes are more suggestive than anything else. And for those who might be concerned that ITV could be showing a snipped and clipped version of the show, we've had assurances that this is the real deal, exactly as it was shown on Showtime in the States and on FX last year.

It's hard to say if Dexter will appeal to a mass audience as it makes its terrestrial TV debut. But if you can stomach the violence and morally questionable premise, this is one of the finest US imports to grace our screens in recent years, and a definite must-see. Ian Jones

Click to add a DigiGuide alert so you get a reminder when Dexter starts

DRAMA: Dexter, ITV1 London at 22:35 on Wednesday 27th February 2008

Dexter. Series 1, episode 1.
Crime drama in which a Miami police forensics expert leads a secret double life as a serial killer of criminals he believes to have escaped justice. He uses his knowledge of crime scene investigations to prevent himself getting caught and conceal his dual identity from his detective sister and troubled girlfriend.
(New, Stereo, Widescreen, Subtitles)

Starring: Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Erik King, Lauren Vélez, David Zayas

An Interview With Dexter's Michael C. Hall

“I think there are plenty of things in this world that desensitise us to violence, and to suffering generally, in the world. I think Dexter is an interesting example, or maybe an exceptional example, in that violence is not detached from the affection that you're encouraged to have for the person who's doing the killing, because the people he's killing are themselves killers. So it sort of folds in on itself which I like. I'd like to think that maybe the show takes a bit more responsibility than some do in terms of what it's portraying.

“When it comes to showing as much gore as we do, I really don't know how the public feel about it. I'm sure that it varies from person to person in terms of their relative squeamishness about that side of things. But I think the show is interesting in its construction: because of the voice over element that Dexter provides, the audience are the only ones who are in on the real secret and as a result, they're kind of implicated. I think that is seductive to some people and makes some people squirm.

“The show operates within a very morally ambiguous landscape. I won't deny that the audience is given permission to identify with someone who is killing people who are quite reprehensible. I would hope that the fans of the show appreciate it because it is neither black nor white, but operates in grey areas.

“It’s my feeling that the public fascination with serial killers has something to do with the fact that we all have a shadowy side. I think they are fascinating to people because they are people – they are humans who have been so overwhelmed by a compulsion that they are driven to kill. We call them monsters and there is something quite dysfunctional about their interior landscape, but I think the deeper fascination is a desire to consider and maybe come to terms with our own shadows, whatever form they take. Thankfully we're not all afflicted in the way Dexter is.

“The reaction to the show in the USA has been gratifying in a way because I definitely believe that this show pushes boundaries and challenges viewers to perhaps consider their responses. If their reaction is initially positive, they think about that. If it's initially negative, that's something they deal with too and if it's some of both, then that's really interesting to me. I'm proud to be a part of something that inspires strong reactions no matter what they might be.

“I like the role of Dexter in a unique way, in that he claims to be without authentic human emotion. I'm sceptical about that, but it frees me up as an actor to suit my behaviour to match whatever situation Dexter finds himself in. That's a lot of fun to do and, when you're playing a character for a long time, it's nice to be able to mix it up in that way.

“I think the character resonates with different people for different reasons. We're living in a world where individual people feel a greater and greater sense of injustice and a lessening sense of control, and I think while there are all kinds of moral debates you can have about what Dexter does, it's undeniable that he is taking his share of control for his corner of the world."

Courtesy of ITV