Law & Order: UK (stylised as Law & Order | UK) is a British police procedural and legal television programme broadcast from 2009 to 2014 on ITV, adapted from the American series Law & Order. Financed by the production companies Kudos Film and Television, Wolf Films, and Universal Television, the series originally starred Bradley Walsh, Freema Agyeman, Jamie Bamber, Ben Daniels, Harriet Walter and Bill Paterson. Dominic Rowan, Georgia Taylor, Paul Nicholls, Ben Bailey Smith, Sharon Small, Peter Davison and Paterson Joseph joined the cast in later series. This is the first American drama television series to be adapted for British television, while the episodes are adapted from scripts and episodes of the parent series.
Series 1 was broadcast in 2009. In June 2014, broadcaster ITV and producer Kudos issued a joint press release announcing that series 8 would be "the last to be transmitted for the foreseeable future."
Premise
Law & Order: UK is a British adaptation of the American television series Law & Order, one of the most successful brands in American primetime television. Law & Order: UK is based in London and duplicates the episode format of the original series but with appropriate modifications to more closely resemble the English legal system.
The first half of each episode focuses on the perpetration of a crime and the related police investigation, typically culminating in an arrest. The second half follows the legal and court proceedings in an effort to convict the suspect. The show dwells little on the characters' back-stories or social lives, focusing mainly on their lives at work.
The opening narration is largely the same as that of the American series, but replaces "district attorneys" with "crown prosecutors".
The police segment For most of Law & Order: UKs run, the lead-in of the show began with the discovery of a crime, usually a murder. The scene typically begins with a slice of everyday life in London, perhaps in a fish and chip shop or Indian takeaway. Some civilians would then discover the crime victim, or sometimes the crime would occur in a public place with civilians as victims or witnesses.
The police are represented in the show by Metropolitan Police Service Murder Investigation Unit (referred to as MIU), with two Criminal Investigation Department (CID) detectives, both detective sergeants (DSs), who report directly to their boss, a detective inspector (DI) or detective chief inspector (DCI). During the preliminary crime scene examination, the detectives make their first observations, form initial theories, and engage in witty banter before the title sequence begins.
The detectives often have few or no good clues, and might not even know the victim's identity, but must usually chase several dead ends before finding a likely suspect. They begin by collecting evidence at the crime scene, often receiving a briefing from scenes of crime officers (SOCOs) who have already conducted a preliminary investigation. They visit the forensic pathologist for information about cause and time of death, or about the victim's identity from dental records or fingerprints. The police will also inform relatives, interview witnesses, and trace the victim's last known movements by talking to the victim's family, friends, co-workers, or known associates. They will visit the crime laboratory for evidence such as fingerprints, DNA and ballistics results. They will receive information from colleagues who have checked the financial and criminal records of both victims and suspects. In some instances, psychologists or psychiatrists are called in for insight into the criminal's personality, behaviour or modus operandi. The detectives then report to their commanding officer who advises or directs them on how best to proceed. For example, when suspects have been identified, the commanding officer decides if there is enough for a search or arrest warrant, perhaps after consulting the CPS office to see if the case is strong enough; and whether any back-up from uniformed officers or armed police is needed. The detectives will then arrest the suspects, sometimes after a chase through the streets of London. The scene then shifts to the interrogation room where the detectives interview the suspect(s) until the latter request(s) a solicitor, who then arrives to typically advise the suspect to remain silent; and then from the interrogation room to the offices of the Crown Prosecution Service, where crown prosecutors decide if they have enough to press charges.
The trial segment
Towards the middle of a show, the police will begin to work with the prosecutors to make the arrest, though sometimes the CPS team will on occasion appear early on to arrange a plea-for-information deal or to decide if the detectives have enough evidence for search warrants and/or arrest warrants before arresting the suspect or suspects and an arraignment scene will follow.
The matter then is taken over by a pair of crown prosecutors, a crown prosecutor sometimes referred to as a chief crown prosecutor and a crown prosecutor sometimes referred to as a crown advocate from the London office of the Crown Prosecution Service. They discuss deals, prepare the witnesses and evidence, and conduct the Crown's case in the trial. The crown prosecutors work together and with the coroner's office, the crime laboratory (including fingerprint analysts, DNA profilers and Ballistics analysts), and psychologists and/or psychiatrists (if the defendant uses an insanity plea) all of whom may be needed to testify in court for the prosecution. The police may also reappear to testify in court or to arrest another suspect, but most investigation in the second segment is done by the CPS office, who always consult with the local London CPS Director for advice on the case. If the case is very weak then the police would re-investigate.
Unlike many legal dramas (e.g. Kavanagh QC and Rumpole of the Bailey), the court proceedings are shown from the prosecution's point of view, with the regular characters trying to prove the defendant's guilt, not innocence. The prosecution usually opens with the arraignment of defendants and proceeds to trial preparation, including legal research and plea negotiations. Some episodes include legal proceedings beyond the testimony of witnesses, including motion hearings (often concerning admissibility of evidence); jury selection; and allocutions, usually as a result of plea bargains. Many episodes employ motions to suppress evidence as a plot device, and most of these end with evidence or statements being suppressed, often on a technicality. This usually begins with the service of the motion to the CPS team, follows with argument and case citations of precedent before a judge in court, and concludes with visual reaction of the winning or losing attorney. In some episodes, the audience may not explicitly see the final verdict of the trial or outcomes of any ensuing legal agreements. If the CPS loses a case against a defendant, the episode may occasionally show the CPS pursuing additional charges against the said defendant.
Many episodes use outlandish defence scenarios such as diminished responsibility (e.g. "genetics"/"television"/"God"/"the devil made me do it" and intoxication defence) and temporary insanity (e.g. "black rage"/"white rage"/"sports rage"). Some episodes revolve around moral and ethical debates, including the right to die (euthanasia), the right to life (abortion) and the right to bear arms (gun control). The episode usually ends with the verdict being read by the jury foreperson and a shot of both the winning and losing parties. The scene then shifts to the Crown Prosecution Service's London office where the team is leaving the office to go home while contemplating either the true guilt of the accused, the defence scenarios they used or the moral or ethical debate of the episode.
Conception
Law & Order: UK was first imagined by franchise creator Dick Wolf in 2000; however, at the time, no network was willing to pick up a pilot for the series. Wolf managed to attract scriptwriter Chris Chibnall, who had previously worked on British productions Torchwood, Life on Mars and Born and Bred, to write a series of 13 adaptations from the original Law & Order series. Wolf then asked Chibnall to look through the Law & Order Bible, a book released in the United States containing a collection of synopses for every episode. Chibnall picked 13 episodes that could be adapted for British television, watched the originals on DVD, and then wrote the adaptations to accommodate contractual requirements with production company Kudos, and to build on the show's reputation of successful storytelling. Subsequently, the series was picked up by ITV. One of the episodes Chibnall adapted, however, had to be scrapped because of incompatibility with English law, resulting in a different episode being adapted. Wolf then attracted producer Richard Stokes to the series, but he stated that a 13-episode series would be too long for broadcast on British television, and thus, he separated the 13 scripts into two separate series. Wolf, however, objected to this, claiming that it wouldn't be an issue, as each series in the United States contains 22 episodes per series. Wolf pushed ITV for more episodes per series, but his attempt was unsuccessful. Each of the 13 scripts was updated for contemporariness, and while the difficulties of adapting the scripts for the English legal system exceeded the expectations of the production team, Stokes opined that audiences familiar with both shows would enjoy them for their distinctions. Further series have continued to adapt scripts from the original Law & Order series. Many of the familiar hallmarks of the original Law & Order series were carried through into the adaptation, including the styling of the opening music, black-and-white intertitles, using Wolf's signature "clanging cell door" sound, and hand-held camera work. Stokes later expressed his praise for the Kudos' method of guerrilla filming on the streets of London. Wolf later described the biggest difference between the two series as the wigs, claiming: "The law is not really that dissimilar and, you know, murder is murder."
Cast changes In August 2012, ITV announced that they had renewed the show for a six-episode seventh series. Due to other commitments, neither Harriet Walter nor Freema Agyeman returned, and they were replaced by Paterson Joseph and Georgia Taylor in the roles of Detective Inspector Wes Layton and Crown Prosecutor Kate Barker respectively. On 27 February 2013, it was confirmed that Paul Nicholls who plays Detective Sergeant Sam Casey would be leaving the series in the sixth episode of Series 7. On 8 April 2014, it was confirmed that Paterson Joseph would be leaving the series, with his character to be killed in episode 7 of series 8. He was replaced by Sharon Small as DI Elizabeth Flynn in episode 8. On 3 June 2014, ITV confirmed that Bradley Walsh had declined a contract option to return for a ninth series; simultaneously the show was retired indefinitely.
Series
Series 1 (2009) The first series of Law & Order: UK starred Bradley Walsh, Jamie Bamber and Harriet Walter, Ben Daniels, Freema Agyeman and Bill Paterson. Each commission consisted of six-seven episodes. Series one was broadcast in February 2009 and concluded in April 2009, with seven episodes being broadcast. The second series followed in January 2010 and consisted of six episodes.
Series 2, 3 & 4 (2010) The next three series were all broadcast throughout 2010 with series 2 airing between January and February followed by series 3 between September and October with series 4 airing between November and December. The first major cast departures came at the end of the fourth series, with Ben Daniels and Bill Paterson leaving the show. Walsh, Bamber, Walter, and Agyeman all remained in their roles.
Series 5 & 6 (2011)