Rating: 
Summary: A major TV achievement. It bites.
Review: In the Britain of Thatcher's 80s, almost all political dissent seemed to be wiped out. It was almost like an Eastern Bloc dictatorship, where any opposition had to be covertly disguised as something else. So while 'Traffik' 'pretends' to be about drugs - and is fantastically detailed and informative about the history, science, practice and effect of the problem - it is really about the decline of Britain, its Imperial hubris come home to haunt the centre (besides a shabbily bleak Britain, the series is set in Germany and Pakistan, two countries who played their part in dismantling British power in the 20th century). It is a film about Thatcher, in the person of a Tory minister who journeys into the heart of darkness and discovers the mendacious, dangerous worthlessness of his ideals, in particular a free market ideology that only encourages, even legitimises drug barons. 'Traffik' is imbued with a searing anger, political nous and analytic rigor obviously absent from its remake. I raved about that film when it came out, and I still think it is a masterpiece because of Soderbergh, but if I had seen this first I would have tempered my praise. Not only is story and acting more convincing, but 'Traffik' has a visual intelligence rare on television, achieving unobtrusive but complex effects that 'comment' on the verbal, factual overload.
Rating: 
Summary: Region 1 release = 3 stars. Region 2 release = 5 stars.
Review: Nothing much to add, apart from saying that the region 2 release has been superbly produced, so if you want to avoid the poor US market adaptation and have a multi region player, purchase the region 2 version from Amazon UK. It was really dumb to change the original subtitling to dubbing. If you can take it raw, watch Traffik. If you can't, watch the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Brutal, scary, heart-breaking...
Review: The original British Masterpiece Theatre production sears like a mental scourge. Having seen both mini-series and justly acclaimed Steven Soderbergh film, I characterize TRAFFIK's excursion into the not-quite shadow world of International heroin trade as a cinematic NOVEL. Bill Paterson plays Jack Lithgow; MP and ranking Cabinet Secretary, (the role essayed by Michael Douglas as US Drug Czar) commissioned to "win the war on drugs" in Great Britain. Young Julia Ormand... Lady Guinevere in FIRST KNIGHT...is his daughter, Caroline. Her fate as upper class "Tory child" sucked-into a hellish vortex of addiction is the existential spike that drives the reality of Traffik. A Father...an eminent politician with probable PM dreams crowning his ambition...must fight for his child's life. Unlike Soderbergh's film which...though powerfully...devolves into anti-drug Gang War "adventure" (replete with shoot-outs and Drug Lord torture scenes), TRAFFIK presents drugs as a problem of MONEY, power and (forbidden) pleasure. Drugs provide ultimate "rush" for the good, bad and ugly. Few...to cite the film's premise-oriflamme..."GET AWAY CLEAN". With British understatement... letting the sTory tell the story...the clash between moral values; economic necessity, and cultural decadence, is dramatized in epic exploration that is harrowing and heart-breaking. "I WISH SOMEONE WERE LOOKING FOR ME" pleads a burnt-out, "on the Jones" needle-sharing partner, to Paterson/Lithgow who has tracked his daughter to a heroin "shooting gallery". The scene reeks of despair and human loss. Here...perhaps better than the film which often allows violence to provide its own "jag"...the glamour of evil and meretricious "thrills" are unmasked. TRAFFIK is an experience that rationalizes little about the horror of drugs and their cost. As film, it is brutal lesson, scary and heart-breaking, to anyone who has a heart to accept TRUTH...
Rating:
Summary: Poor picture quality
Review: This is a great mini series, even if you already have seen the movie, but I was very disappointed about the picture quality. It is very poor. I have not read complaints about this from other reviewers so far, so I wonder if it's my copy or what?
Rating:
Summary: BEWARE: Dubbed audio track!
Review: This is specifically a review of the DVD of a British TV Miniseries which I otherwise adore. I was deeply disappointed to find that the Acorn Media DVD does not contain the original soundtrack and subtitles. The mixture of English, Urdu, and German of the original was particularly realistic and added a lot to the drama. The occasional subtitles, only when it was absolutely necessary to carry on the story line, immersed the viewer in much of the same environment you feel when you travel, and let you concentrate on the emotion of the dialog rather than the words. In short, if you liked that about the original broadcast, you're sure to miss it in this version. The sad thing is that DVD technology would have allowed the inclusion of BOTH soundtracks, the original for purists, including those who saw this on television and fell in love with it just the way it was, and the dubbed for the subtitle-phobic. Acorn's U.S. DVD is a Travesty of TRAFFIK, which otherwise deserves five stars. I'll be looking out for a European version of this, with the hope that they wouldn't dare dub it.
Rating: 
Summary: Superior production
Review: This series was shown on PBS roughly ten years ago. It was good then, but seemed even better now when I saw it re-run fairly recently. The process by which heroin is cultivated, brokered, shipped then sold is shown in a well-coordinated, entirely realistic way which compliments the excellent acting and sense of atmosphere created, especially in the Hamburg sequences. Bill Paterson is effective as the politician who has lost emotional contact with his family, his daughter in particular. His eye-opening trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan where poppy-growing is a way of life and difficult, perhaps wrong, and certainly impossible to completely eradicate is one of the best parts. I'm sure the recent re-make is quite good, but not better than the original.
Rating:
Summary: POPPIES! Poppies!
Review: Traffik is intense, dramatic and depicts the world (from Asia to the U.K.) of the heroine trade. All the hype behind the movie barely alluded to this brilliant miniseries. With this rerelease, let's hope that the record is set right. Buy it, or rent it. I am sure the movie is great, but the Brits really captured the characters and sense of place to propel the compelling stories of poppy farmers, traders, dealers, users and cops --and everyone else involved in the heroine business.
Rating:
Summary: Far outshines the film
Review: Traffik is one of the most memorable viewing experiences I've ever had. Not only does it give a very clear view of the economic necessity that is the driving force in the lives of the people who cultivate the poppy fields, but it also gives sharply focused insights into how ill-informed politicians make hay on a hot-potato issue. It's only when the effects of drug abuse come home--to Bill Paterson, the splendid Scottish actor who plays a member of parliament whose daughter falls victim to addiction, and to Lindsay Duncan, the wife of the importer--that we see the lengths people will go to, for all sorts of reasons, to engage in the traffic, going one way or the other. Duncan is extraordinary in this series; her transformation from innocent wife to determined conspirator is stunning. This, the original Traffik, makes the film version look small and choppy and incoherent. Benicio Del Toro's performance in the film is, without doubt, a fine one. But when it takes a viewer at least half the movie to figure out who the good and bad guys are, you've wasted a lot of time. Traffik doesn't waste a single frame. It's a breathtaking ride from start to finish and leaves the film version in the dust. If you saw the movie and thought it was okay, see the TV series and you'll see something great. Years after the fact, there are scenes in the mini-series that will come back to haunt you. This is a profoundly affecting, deeply compelling drama.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Truly gripping dramatic study of the heroin trade. The flow between storylines is handled perfectly. Some dialogue is a bit stilted and some aspects of the plot are not completely credible, but understood as an allegory this miniseries makes a strong link between Third World poverty and despair, criminality, unbridled affluence, the failings of Western societies and the misery of the international drug trade. Next time you hear a politician spouting off about the need for a "war on drugs", ask them if they've watched this series.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping, Must Watch Viewing
Review: We watched this over 3 nights on dvd and just loved it. I have never found myself liking a film and the tv series it was based upon equally but am in that situation here. I loved the American remake film of this series every bit as much as the series. They are alike yet they are also different. Perhaps the hugest difference is that the USA one involves a south of the border storyline where the Hispanic world is the major influence on our drug trade. However, evidently the British drug problem flows from the Middle East and is played across the European stage. Thus, we spend a great deal of time in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Germany in the UK series. Because the Hispanic culture is radically different from these others, that is a huge difference between the two and makes both well worth watching. Benicio del Toro was thus able to make a contribution to the American Traffic as the Hispanic cop that was so riveting. The rest of the plotline is virtually identical but Bill Patterson is so different from Michael Douglas and Lindsey Duncan so different from Catherine Zeta-Jones that you really understand how a change of actor can totally transform a role. They are all equally as good but all equally different. Julia Ormond is excellent as the druggie daughter in this version but Erika Christensen was positively other worldly in her interpretation of the role and I must give her the edge. I reached the same conclusion after seeing both works: we might as well legalize drugs as the only way of stopping this crime-war. It is as big a losing battle as Prohibition was with alcohol.
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