Miami Vice

Miami Vice (1984–1989) is an American crime drama series created by Anthony Yerkovich and executive-produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series follows Metro-Dade undercover detectives James “Sonny” Crockett and Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs as they investigate drug trafficking, organised crime, murder and corruption in Miami. Don Johnson plays Crockett, a former football player and Vietnam veteran living on a boat with an alligator named Elvis, while Philip Michael Thomas plays Tubbs, a former New York detective who comes to Miami while hunting the drug lord connected to his brother’s death. The series also features Saundra Santiago, Michael Talbott, John Diehl, Olivia Brown, Gregory Sierra and Edward James Olmos in key roles. Miami Vice became one of the defining television series of the 1980s, known for its pastel colours, designer clothing, fast cars, pop music, night-time atmosphere and cinematic approach to television crime drama.

Miami Vice was filmed heavily on location in South Florida, and the series is inseparable from Miami and Miami Beach. Instead of hiding the story inside studio sets, the production used real streets, hotels, marinas, causeways, nightclubs, waterfronts, industrial areas and Art Deco buildings to create its distinctive world. South Beach, Ocean Drive, Collins Avenue, Biscayne Boulevard, Key Biscayne, Coconut Grove, Downtown Miami, the Miami River, Venetian Causeway, Opa-locka Airport and Old Miamarina are among the areas most strongly associated with the series. The exterior of the police unit’s undercover headquarters, known in the series as Gold Coast Shipping and used by the Organized Crime Bureau, was filmed at the Gold Coast Shipping Building at 615 SW 2nd Avenue in Miami. Miami Beach’s Art Deco hotels and neon-lit streets gave the series much of its visual identity, while marinas, bridges, warehouses and waterfront roads reflected the criminal underworld the detectives move through. The result is a series where the city is not just a setting, but one of the main characters: Miami becomes a world of tropical heat, wealth, decay, speedboats, clubs, pastel façades, glass towers, empty streets and dangerous night-time glamour.

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