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Utopia was an amazing drama when it first starting, introducing the nation to the eerie question – “Where is Jessica Hyde?” – while damaging and scooping out one of Winston Winston’s eyes, then making you think Lee was dead, only for him to return in series 2 and slash Ian’s boss in the throat.
It had some amazing, but contraversial scenes, not least that of Series 1 Episode 3, when Arby (Neil Maskell) walked into a school, executed the headmaster and then continued on the children on the teacher, with a view to blaming this on Grant (Oliver Woollford).
Alas, while I loved series 1 – which also starred Michael Smiley meeting an early death by Arby, Utopia fell apart during series 2 and ratings were very poor. Also, while the first series was released on both Blu-ray and DVD, Series 2 was DVD only, which was quite telling.
The series was also one of the few which is actually made in Dolby Digital 5.1. And the well-shot 2.35:1 widescreen frame – quite rare for a TV series – certainly heightened the tension.
Now, where is Jessica Hyde?
Utopia Series 1 and 2 is available to buy in a DVD boxset, and Series 1 can also be bought on Blu-ray. Sadly, we didn’t get a Blu-ray for series 2.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.