With the likes of Breaking Bad and The Sopranos, you would be forgiven for thinking anything else could take the top spot for most thrilling drama.
But Shawn Ryan’s creation, The Shield, is up there with both these hit shows – and it’s now available to stream, 22 years after its debut.
The iconic drama is an addictive and exceedingly watchable series about a group of corrupt cops who are part of an experimental “Strike Team” within the LAPD.
Michael Chiklis plays rogue cop Vik Mackey, who leads a group of bent coppers, Shane, Curtis and Ronnie, as they siphon drugs and cash from staged arrests.
It is based on the real-life Rampart scandal of the late Nineties that took place in LAPD’s anti-gang unit.
Michael’s performance in the series earned him both an Emmy and a Golden Globe.
He later appeared in two Fantastic Four films as The Thing and took on the role as Boston Celtics basketball coach Red Auerbach in HBO‘s Winning Time.
The star-studded cast also includes Walton Goggins, known for his roles in Fallout, The White Lotus and The Righteous Gemstones.
Guest appearances throughout the series include Glenn Close, Michael Pena, Anthony Anderson and Forest Whitaker.
Empire magazine rated The Shield at number 18 in its top 100 list of the greatest television series of all time.
Running for a marathon 89 episodes and first dropping in 2002, the action-packed drama is now available on Prime Video.
Since the news of the release emerged, fans have been boasting about the “amazing” show.
Writing on IMDb, viewers have been flooding it with 9/10 and 10/10 scores.
One person wrote: “I hate giving 10’s because nothing is perfect, but a 9 doesn’t do it justice. There have been a lot of 9’s over the years but this show is even better than those.”
Another said: “I know I’m late to the party but I just wanted to add my two cents. I have seen a lot of shows in my life from the Wire, Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, Downtown Abbey to GOT and everything in between…but The Shield has a special place in my heart.”
