With Law & Order: UK (series 6 in UK or the 2nd half of season 3 in US!) coming back to the UK on January 6 (9pm ITV1), I thought it’s about time I finally write down some thoughts on this show.
I previously wrote a lengthy post about my love for the original L&O / Mothership, so after I finished watching the last three seasons, I really needed something to fill that missing gap. I’m now up to date with L&O:UK also – it’s a bit confusing since in the UK, it was broadcasted in a batch of 6 or 7 episodes, but in the US it was broadcasted in a lot of 13 episodes. For consistency sake I’m going to use the UK series numbers. In the US, they have already shown these series 6 episodes (on BBC America) so you can find spoilers / reviews on this season!
Since I live in Australia I just wanted to add a note on how dismal television programming is in this country. Channel Ten has shown about 9 episodes of L&O:UK somewhere down the track. I seriously doubt it will be back on that channel anytime soon. I think their rights to series 1 & 2 have already expired? But at least you can see it on pay TV. Foxtel (Channel TV1) recently showed series 1 & 2 on Mondays 8:30pm. I hope it will be back soon.
As one of the two remaining L&Os in the franchise (the other still airing will be SVU) – yes I know there’re adaptations in France, Russia and an upcoming one for L&O: Cape Town (!), L&O:UK was adapted from the Mothership with the first half focusing on the police investigating crimes and the second half the crown prosecutors prosecuting the offenders. It’s also important to note all of the episodes in the UK version (so far) are based on scripts from the Mothership, mostly from the earlier years. Before watching L&O:UK I wasn’t familiar with all but one of the original episodes.
L&O:UK series 6 brings about another change in cast. I guess it’s not that much of a spoiler after that cliffhanger episode from the end of series 5 when the ITV website writes quite clearly that a new detective (DS Sam Casey) is joining the show. It is sad to see DS Matt Devlin (Jamie Bamber) go because the “Law†team of DS Ronnie Brooks (Bradley Walsh) and Devlin was one of the main reasons why I fell in love with L&O:UK.
Mothership viewers will be used to the frequent cast changes. Although fans of the original will always have differing opinions on their favourite cast / seasons. I guess being a shorter series, L&O:UK is more character driven – cases often reveal personal details of the characters, and each of the main cast had at least one episode where they were personally involved. After the cast changes in the beginning of the last series (that would be series 5) – only half of the original cast remains.
One of the most surprising (or casting genius!) is Bradley Walsh’s DS Ronnie Brooks. As the older detective, he is often called the UK version of Lennie Briscoe (the late Jerry Orbach). Yes there are many similarities – two ex-wifes, ex-alcoholic… but just watching his work on L&O:UK it’s really hard to imagine this guy was famous for being a comedian and hosting game shows! After the departure of DS Devlin – Ronnie Brooks was the reason I continued watching! Luckily, the L&O:UK writers recognised this and two of the episodes in series 6 focused on DS Brooks.
This week’s challenge is “pack” 
Title: Missing
Flavor: Technically SVU, but I don’t think it makes sense if you haven’t watched Mike Cutter from the Mothership?
Rating: G
Characters: Mike Cutter / Jack McCoy
Words: 100
Notes: I was really happy to see Mike on SVU, but then his new office felt so….foreign (?). I guess they didn’t keep the props from the Mothership? So that was where this idea came from……“Congratulations Mike.†Jack commented as he entered the office of SVU’s new Bureau Chief.
“Thanks. They supposedly moved all the boxes here, but I can’t find one of them!â€
Jack raised his trademarked eyebrows.
“You know…. that box I packed – staircase, concrete slab… â€
“Doesn’t look like they’re here.†Jack observed, “Not even the whiteboard?â€
“I might have to use actual paper for a change.†Mike frowned. “How can they lose the box from moving down THREE LEVELS?â€
“Probably just got mixed up.â€
“Lucky I took my bat down personally.â€
Title: A Mutual Understanding
Flavor: Law & Order (Mothership)
Rating: G
Characters: Mike Cutter / Cyrus Lupo
Words: 1386
Notes: This fic takes place during the episode “Knock off”, when Mike Cutter and Cyrus Lupo stayed overnight in Dargerville… (I totally love that scene of Mike lying on the bed watching TV while Lupo was doing the legal research! This is just a conversation between them about Connie.)
When I started writing this I had no idea where it was going, I hope it doesn’t suck since this is my first long-ish L&O fic! :O It’s more about Mike than Lupo, I can’t help it, being a M/C fangirl and all.
I’m just borrowing these characters – Dick Wolf /NBC owns them!
