This one is probably only for UK residents or those of the Pirate persuasion at present, because it seems to be available only on Sky1 in Britain. And it's rated SO "not for Buck" or for TM wussies, but I note it here just so I can be one of the first to predict that Jamie Bamber is on his way to a BAFTA award for his work in it. I'd suggest that he'd win an Emmy as well, but it probably will never be released in the US because the strong accents would be beyond the comprehension of many Americans.
It's about firefighters. But the real drama of the series doesn't center on the heroics of these real heroes whose job it is to run *into* a burning building that everyone else is running out of. It's about what they risk every time they do. Bamber (whose credentials as an actor you might infer from the fact that most people who enjoyed his role as Lee Adama in "Battlestar Galactica" never knew he was British) plays a firefighter who is returning to service after nine months spent recovering from having been trapped in a fire. The first ten minutes of the series show the intensity of what it's like to be the person running up to the top floor of a burning building to rescue a baby, only to be trapped there after having been attacked by the very residents he was trying to save, and it's truly amazing action footage...but that's not really the point. The point seems to be not the ever-present danger of dying in one of the fires they're fighting, but the horrors of *surviving* one. Bamber's character has been catastrophically maimed by the third degree burns he received, leaving him a physical and emotional wreck in many ways. But he's a firefighter, so he actually goes back to the job. Again, *not* a series for the faint of heart, but good writing, good acting, and a remarkable contrast to the standard "Wolf of Wall Street" and "House Of Cards" fare, which seem to glorify people who are not only NOT heroes, but the opposite -- true slimeballs who hurt people and not only get away with it, they become rich and famous because of it. The world of entertainment needs more depictions of true heroism in my opinion, and "The Smoke" provides some.
