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Down in the Hole

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Ellen West - web producer | 12:31 UK time, Thursday, 19 June 2008

I spent some of last night in an interrogation room with , the creator of one of the most gripping and complex television series of recent years, . Simon was in the custody of Lauren Laverne, accused of breaking every convention in the television rulebook, and he had some tough charges to answer. While we were down in the hole, an audience upstairs were watching a preview of the first two episodes of , little dreaming that the creator of this influential show was being grilled downstairs. Following his ordeal, David Simon took to the stage of to be interviewed by , a longstanding champion of the series, and to face questions from the audience. Simon is held in such high regard, that not only was the event packed, but there was a long queue of fans waiting for returns.

David Simon is an extremely thoughtful and articulate man. For many years he worked as a journalist on the Baltimore Sun, during which time he wrote a pair of books based on the characters he encountered while reporting on crime and policing. One of these, , formed the basis for the NBC series , on which Simon worked as writer and producer. He told some very funny anecdotes about his time with NBC, including discussions with executives who would want to know, "Where are the victories, where's the joy?", which sounds like a slightly odd approach to a series called Homicide. With The Wire, David Simon has dissected the city of Baltimore and tried to explore what the answers might be to its ingrained social problems, something that he made clear would only have been possible on HBO. The that followed were filmed by the BFI, and I'll add a link when that becomes available, while you can watch The Culture Show item on Tuesday 8 July at 10pm (TBC). Did Mr Simon break down and admit to being guilty as charged or was Lauren forced to slap him around a little until he confessed? All will be revealed.

Fan of The Wire? Let us know why you like the show. Or if you remain unconverted, let us know about your reservations. No spoilers please (especially not from season 4 onwards - I'm about to start the DVD box set). You might also want to on FX UK's website.

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