Posts Tagged ‘Law & Order: UK’
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 “desserts” 
Title: Late Night Snacks
Flavor: L&O: UK
Rating: G
Characters: Ronnie Brooks / Matt Devlin / Alesha Phillips
Words: 100
Notes: Totally inspired by the “pain au chocolat” scene….Alesha arrived at MIU with two bags, for her two favourite detectives.
“It’ll probably take all night to go through these phone records.” Matt grumbled. But his frown turned into a grin when he saw Alesha.
“What’s this?” Ron’s face lighted up.
“Black sesame glutinous rice balls in lychee sago.”
“You know my love for exotic foods!”
Before Matt could protest against the sugar laden dessert, Alesha interrupted.
“Don’t worry Matt, I brought you the healthy option.”
He looked at the small container, “Ronnie gets some fancy sesame thing and I get… fruit salad?”
This week’s challenge is “inspired by a book”
Title: Halloween
Flavor: L&O: UK
Rating: G
Characters: Matt Devlin / Alesha Phillips
Words: 100
Notes: I’m *guessing* Halloween isn’t so big in England….? (If it’s anything like Australia.) But hey, any excuse for a fancy dress party isn’t so bad?“I can’t believe you’re making me wear this.”
Alesha couldn’t help but laugh at Matt’s Halloween “costume”.
“I wanted Elizabeth and Darcy, but you insisted on modern!”
“When I said modern, I meant Posh and Becks.”
“Tacky. You just want me to wear killer heels and a short skirt!”
He couldn’t stop fiddling with his jumper. “This wool is itchy!”
“Stop it! You wanted to win best costume!”
“If guv and her husband are Benson and Stabler…Ron is Sherlock Holmes….we’ll win.”
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“Nice reindeer jumper Matty.” Ron chuckled as Ange took a photo…
“We’re putting this on the MPS website!”
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Notes: OK… so this was more inspired by the movie Bridget Jones’s Diary (since I’ve never read the book!) but it also mentions Pride & Prejudice
