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Arghghph! Not the sound of ITV executives watching their Sunday night viewing figures drop, but rather my expression of surprise at the arrival of yet another series of Law and Order: UK. We’re already on series five?! This show moves fast, which is understandable seeing as it’s based of the American show of a similar name (the original scripts are reused with some adaptations). I’m inclined to believe that our modest little UK version must be doing something right, and with the inclusion of some new characters, does this first episode still prove Law and Order: UK worthy of another series?
No surprises in the format of the show: as before, the first half hour remains focussed on ‘Law,’ the detectives poking their noses around, being repulsed by incredibly gory deaths and such; the second half is based in the courtroom, observing the wigs in action as part of the ‘Order’ team. It’s the USP of the show, I think, that little information is given about the private lives of the professionals involved, the drama being led by the strength of the case alone. This week, the plot revolves around a series of unexplained deaths in the local hospital: suspicions are raised when a woman admitted with a mild case of flu later dies from a lethal dose of codeine. Oh, and there’s a fake doctor wandering around as well, just for funsies.
I’m all for medical dramas, but there’s no denying that an old-fashioned, grisly MWAM (what I like to call a Murderer With A Motive) is more captivating than detectives spewing medicinal chemical names like they’re trying to win triple points in Scrabble: Was it Dr Grant? In the E.D.? With the 3-methylmorphine? Oh look, our detectives don’t like it much either: “Give me a shooting in an alley any day of the week,” grumbles DS Devlin (Jamie Bamber). DS Brooks (Bradley Walsh) also looks hilariously baffled, squinting through his I’m-so-clever specs at the graphs he’s been given. Honestly, you’d think these two were trying to masquerade as cops on a Saturday night entertainment programme.
Fortunately, ‘Order’ get a much more exciting time of it when new Senior Crown Prosecutor Jacob Thorne (Dominic Rowan) undergoes some moral quibbles as he prosecutes a revered and long-serving registrar. I accept that the episodes are going to be marginally unrealistic, but the writers could have at least attempted to have an enthralling series opener.
That’s not the biggest news though, for this series sees the introduction of Henry Sharpe, Director of the CPS, played by Peter Davison, who used to be on some show or other. Like most of the team, he seems a nice chap, but there’s nothing daring or particularly challenging about his performance. Dominic Rowan is the more impressive newbie, able to let his character, Thorne, betray a flicker of emotion as the defendant’s drug addiction is painfully exposed: a brief twitch… and it’s gone. Hopefully there will be more of this heartfelt sentiment later in the series.
It’s a shame that the new characters barely make any impression on the story, but that’s Law and Order for you. It remains a good drama to dip into every now and then, but if you’re looking for empathetic personalities and true passion in your legal dramas, then it’s perhaps not for you. Coast, however, is on BBC2 at the same time, and the otter families are pretty cute. Aww.
Law and Order: UK continues on ITV1 at 9pm on Sunday
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