[Thoughts] Law & Order: UK series 6 (Part 1)

With Law & Order: UK (series 6 in UK or the 2^nd 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.

One of them is the series opener – 06×01 Survivor’s Guilt. The events of this episode picks up right after the last series so if you have forgotten, it would be a good idea to revisit! After DS Devlin was gunned down outside the Old Bailey, the new detective Sam Casey was given the job of investigating his death. Honestly, my heart was breaking and I had tears in my eyes watching this episode I pretty much forgotten many of the details about the case itself. But viewers were given the chance to grieve with Ronnie and his superior DI Natalie Chandler (Harriet Walter) as they each tried to cope with Matt’s death. While Ron’s grief turned into a crusade to find out who was behind Matt’s murder – the investigation he was supposed to stay away from, DI Chandler tried in vain to keep Ron from flying off the handle. On the outside she was composed enough to keep doing her job, the scene where she closed the blinds to her office door, then silently weeping was one of the most moving scenes in the episode.

Survivor’s Guilt allowed us to try to cope with Matt’s death, a rarity in the original L&O and it was done beautifully. However, since it was so heart wrenching I’m not sure whether I could watch it again!

The second episode of the series – 06×02 Immune, is one of my favourites in series 6. I like action packed / fast paced episodes and this is one of them. The case involves a robbery, a shooting, a kidnap and some clever legal manoeuvres by one of the perpetrators and Senior Crown Prosecutor Jake Thorne (Dominic Rowan). Jake is quite new to the show (he was introduced in series 5) and not a lot had been revealed about him yet. I feel it’s important here to just do a little detour because I have since dug up a copy of the original Mothership episode 07×19 Double Down and wanted to do a little comparison.

Quite a few of the original L&O season 7 had been adapted for L&O:UK. Probably because it was one of its strongest seasons and won the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series. The storyline of “Immune” and “Double Down” are mostly similar, except in the UK version they dropped the cop killer aspect. I thought the key character in this episode is the EADA/Senior Crown Prosecutor (Jack McCoy / Jake Thorne) because the scene which had a huge effect on the storyline was when the prosecutor claimed he did not know this person was ‘murdered’, as unbelievable as it was.

Legally, it was a hair-splitting distinction (and difficult to argue) but it was clever and a little devious. Maybe I’ve already seen many episodes involving Mothership’s Jack McCoy to know that he is exactly the type of lawyer who would push the boundaries. So it wasn’t a surprise to find him in this situation. The UK’s Jake Thorne, however, I didn’t know. Also, he’s probably around 15 years younger than Jack McCoy so it’s safe to assume he’s less experienced. Although I enjoyed the UK version anyway, I have to say the original is better because it’s more convincing in this aspect. Jake does an okay job here and the conversation between him and DS Casey after that hearing was a highlight.

Since I’m running out of time and I really wanted to post this entry before L&O:UK returns I’ll end it here. I’ll try to write a follow up covering the rest of the series 6 within the next week or so!