Baltimore is the main setting of the television series The Wire.
Created by David Simon, the HBO drama follows institutions and communities in Baltimore, Maryland. Its story moves among the city’s police department, illegal drug trade, port, schools, political system, and newspapers, showing how each institution affects the others.
The series premiered in 2002 and ran for five seasons. Although it uses fictional characters and storylines, it draws heavily on real Baltimore experiences, including Simon’s work as a journalist and Ed Burns’s career as a police officer and public-school teacher.
Baltimore is more than a backdrop in The Wire. Neighborhoods, row houses, public buildings, docks, and city offices help define the show’s examination of power and bureaucracy. Viewers sometimes describe it simply as a police drama, but its setting and institutional scope make it a much broader crime series.