The lives of the prisoners and guards are intertwined within D Wing of Her Majesty's PrisonMandrake Hill, a category B prison in the North of England. Lee Kingley, a first time prisoner and previously upstanding family man, is sentenced to serve ten years for Grievous Bodily Harm and a firearm offense for defending his sister from her rapist. Respected by the other inmates due to the nature of his crime, Kingsley soon rises to the top of the prison hierarchy alongside his brother and hardened criminal Troy. With his mental health in question, Troy is soon transferred to a maximum security prison, leaving Kingsley in charge of a drug and money-lending business with fellow inmate Kappa Kid. Disturbed by this development and the news that his wife will not be visiting with his daughter as expected, Kingsley begins to believe the rumors circulating about Kappa. Unsure whom to trust and haunted by his experiences, life for Kingsley becomes one altercation after another. Prison psychologist Dr. Nick Vaughan runs the Drug Free Unit of the prison, working with the prisoners on a one-on-one and group basis. When Officer Deidre Burridge is referred to him by her superior, Officer Martin Steddon, in lieu of disciplinary action for striking a prisoner, the two begin a sexual relationship. Revealing themselves both emotionally and physically ends in violence and resentment for the couple. Vaughn is discovered to have been involved with a crime as a child, Burrdige was assaulted by men in her past, Officer Dave Stour takes financial advice from a prisoner, and Governor Chris Russo is more interested in how the prison looks to other officials than its actual state. Their interactions with each other and the prisoners leads to both clashes and a questioning of personal motivations for working within the prison system.
Production
Produced by Tony Garrett's company World Productions, Buried was conceived to give an authentic look at prison life in the UK. The series was co-created by Jimmy Gardner, Robert Jones, and Kath Mattock, who had previously collaborated on the BAFTA Award-winning BBC2 series The Cops. In order to assure authenticity, the series hired Professor David Wilson, a specialist in criminology. Wilson stated that he "...wanted to work with World Productions because knew that they would present prison as it really is." The series was described by the show's producers as portraying "the strict hierarchy that exists among prisoners, and the unspoken co-operation that allows six officers to govern hundreds of inmates", and how the "prisoners and officers alike are locked in psychological warfare, and that each day is an exercise in survival." Through the use of lighting, camera angles, and dialogue, the series refrains from making moral judgments on the characters, showing both their strengths and weaknesses. By exploring every aspect of prison life, Buried allowed television views with no direct experience of 'the inside' to view the realities of prison life. Critically well-received, the programme won the Best Drama Series category at the British Academy Television Awards in 2004. It was suggested midway through the series run that it was unlikely to be recommissioned because of poor ratings. The series averaged just a million viewers and an 8% audience share in its Tuesday night slot of 10:35 pm. A Channel 4 spokesperson said: "It's a good piece of drama, but the audiences haven't been as good as the critical response".
In 2016, the complete series was released as a box-set on All4 and is available to watch on demand. Buried was released on DVD in 2018 by Simply Media.
