Rescue Me (2004-2011)

USA

Television Series

Creators: Denis Leary, Peter Tolan

Cast: Denis Leary, Michael Lombardi, Steven Pasquale, Daniel Sunjata, John Scurti, Andrea Roth, Callie Thorne, James McCaffrey, Natalie Distler, Robert John Burke, Lenny Clarke, Jack McGee, Adam Ferrara, Michael Zegen, Tatum O'Neal, Larenz Tate

Leary and Tolan’s oft brilliant though somewhat unevenly entertaining comedy-drama follows the booze-soaked misadventures of New York fire-fighter Tommy Gavin and his dishevelled crewmates, providing an unglamorised and un-PC portrait of a group of working-class males doing an important and difficult job.

Season 1 (2004)

With his drinking starting to get out of hand, his daredevil behaviour at work beginning to rub some people up the wrong way, and his every waking moment plagued by the ghosts of fires past, fireman Tommy Gavin struggles manfully to cope with his imminent divorce, whilst his colleagues drink and womanise merrily away, in this frequently hilarious and gently affecting first season, which is let down only by the occasional aesthetically incongruous musical montage.

Season 2 (2005)

With Sheila pregnant, his family still missing, and his new firehouse tediously dull, Tommy struggles to regain control of his life, giving up drinking, aided only by Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and a whole heap of narcotics, in this hugely entertaining though rather inconsistent second season, which fails to juggle the show’s many elements as elegantly as it did in its first instalment, with one episode in particular feeling almost like that of a sitcom.

Season 3 (2006)

With his uncle Teddy in prison awaiting trial for murder, his father’s health rapidly deteriorating, his soon-to-be-ex-wife having an affair with his brother, his sister dating Garrity, and the lives of a number of his workmates going rapidly down hill, Tommy Gavin struggles manfully to deal with the death of his only son whilst avoiding the demon drink, in this more consistent and evenly toned third season, which irons out the kinks of the second though never reaches the comic heights of the first.

Season 4 (2007)

When not attempting to sell his new-born son/nephew to Sheila, trying to buy Coleen’s love with expensive gifts, or attending the newly formed Gavin family AA meetings, the increasingly unhinged Tommy can be found dressed as his dead cousin Jimmy, surreptitiously saving people from fires whilst off duty, in this slightly tired fourth season, which often feels painfully familiar and uninspired if still relatively entertaining.

Season 5 (2009)

An attractive French journalist, writing a book about 9/11, is given unlimited access to the fire-fighters of 62 Truck, forcing them to confront their mostly repressed feelings and memories of that day, which soon results in Tommy (and subsequently most of his family) returning to the bottle, in this longer, more ambitious, and pleasingly ramshackle fifth season.

Season 6 (2010)

After dying briefly, and paying a short visit to hell, Tommy Gavin re-joins the world, where he is confronted with his daughter’s drinking problem, Lieu’s health problems, militant AA family members, and the very real possibility that his beloved firehouse will be shutdown, in this brief but enjoyable sixth season, which all but abandons previous seasons’ sporadic attempts at seriousness in favour of outré black humour. Iain.Stott