Sky's latest cop show import The Chicago Code launches tonight and it's a relief to discover it's a cut above your usual police procedural. Tackling the city's legendary political corruption it's got Chicago native Jennifer Beals (The L Word and, yes, Flashdance) as Teresa Colvin, Chicago's first female police superintendent, leading the charge against the crooked culture that pervades the Windy City. Walking personification of the Chicago Way is Alderman Ronin Gibbons (Eltham-born Delroy Lindo) – dangerous, manipulative but charismatic and loved by his constituents who, no one can deny, he always looks after.
But it's how he looks after them that's the problem. Cronies are promoted, palms are greased and crimes are covered up. That may be the Chicago Way but it ain't the Teresa Colvin way and knowing full well Gibbons appointed her because he thought he could manipulate her, she makes it a personal mission to bring him down.
That's no easy task. After running his ward for over 20 years, Gibbons has friends and confidants everywhere and Colvin is unpopular with the rank and file who think her appointment a tokenistic sop – a bi-racial woman ticking the right boxes in Chicago's ethnic melting pot.
Taking on the system is tough when your own troops are against you. Bear in mind that corruption doesn't infect the system in The Chicago Code – it is the system. The only cop she fully trusts is her former partner Jarek Wysocki (Jason Clarke) – a bullish Polish-American detective she gives a roving brief to and assigns to cases connected to Gibbons' criminal enterprises. They might be arson, murder, vice – if the superintendent wills it then Wysocki gets to investigate and that means more cops across all departments get their toes trodden on – that means more resentment and more hostility to her cleanup plans.
The show is the creation of Shawn Ryan, one of modern TV's great auteurs. Having debuted with The Shield, a show that altered the cable landscape forever in becoming the first basic cable show to win major Emmy awards, he went on to become showrunner on Lie to Me and The Unit before creating last year's brilliant but cancelled Terriers on FX.
Don't expect The Shield Mark II though. It's a network show so it can't push the envelope with violence and profanity like a cable show can (it does, though, introduce the new insult jaghole which calls to mind the Fry and Laurie swear word workaround). The Chicago Code is much glossier than the gritty, handheld-filmed Shield – sweeping panoramic helicopter views of the city's skyline combine with ambitious tracking shots at ground level to give it a much stronger cinematic feel.
Tonight's pilot starts at a fair lick with scenes strongly reminiscent of Martin Scorsese's 90s work with heavy use of flashback and voiceover – it's definitely worth checking out as anything from the pen of Ryan is. In one of those unfortunate pieces of timing TV networks seem to relish throwing up, the show debuts on Sky in the same week that Fox decided not to commission a second season so this is going to be a bit of fun over the summer rather than the love of your life. Like all good summer flings the important thing is to remember to have fun while it lasts, not get too attached and don't trust Alderman Gibbons. He's shady.