Law & Order: UK

This article is about the 2009 adaptation of the US television series. For the 1978 BBC2 teleplays, see Law & Order (UK TV series).

Law & Order: UK
Title card
Genre	Police procedural Legal drama
Format	Live-action
Created by	Dick Wolf
Written by	Chris Chibnall
Directed by	James Strong Andy Goddard Omar Madha Mat King Robert Del Maestro Julian Holmes Mark Everest
Creative director(s)	Jane Featherstone
Starring	Bradley Walsh Jamie Bamber Harriet Walter Ben Daniels Freema Agyeman Bill Paterson Dominic Rowan Peter Davison Paul Nicholls
Composer(s)	Andy Price
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of series	6
No. of episodes	39 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Chris Chibnall Andrew Woodhead Stephen Garrett
Producer(s)	Richard Stokes
Location(s)	London, United Kingdom
Running time	45 minutes (without adverts)
Production company(s)	Kudos Film and Television Wolf Films Universal Television
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV (ITV1/STV/UTV) (also ITV1 HD/STV HD/UTV HD)
Picture format	16:9
Original run	23 February 2009 (2009-02-23) – present
Chronology
Related shows	Law & Order (franchise)
External links
Website

Law & Order: UK is a British police procedural and legal television programme, adapted from the American series Law & Order. The programme is financed by the production companies Kudos Film and Television, Wolf Films, and Universal Media Studios. Head writer Chris Chibnall based the first series of episodes on scripts and episodes of the parent series. Based in London, and following the formula of the original, Law & Order: UK stars Bradley Walsh, Paul Nicholls, Harriet Walter, Dominic Rowan, Freema Agyeman and Peter Davison. Law & Order: UK became the first American drama television series to be adapted for British television.

Premise

"In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: The police who investigate crime, and the Crown Prosecutors who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories."

          —Opening narration spoken by Robert Glenister.

Law & Order: UK is a British adaptation of the US-Law & Order franchise, 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. The first half focuses on the perpetration of a crime and the related police investigation typically culminating in an arrest, while 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.

Conception

One of the distinguishing features of Law & Order is a black-and-white intertitle card, which gives the description of the time, date and setting of each scene. This intertitle is the first title from "Care".

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. However, Wolf managed to attract scriptwriter Chris Chibnall, who had previously worked on Torchwood, Life on Mars and Born and Bred, to write a series of thirteen adaptions 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. As such, he picked 13 episodes which 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 due to incompatibility with English Law, resulting in a different episode being adapted. Wolf then attracted producer Richard Stokes to the series, however, he stated that a thirteen-episode series would be too long for broadcast on British television, and thus, he separated the thirteen scripts into two separate series. Dick Wolf, however, objected to this, claiming that it wouldn't be an issue, as each season in the United States contains 22 episodes per season. Wolf pushed ITV for more episodes per series, however, his attempt was unsuccessful. Each of the thirteen scripts were 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 cash register 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."

Episodes

Main article: List of Law & Order: UK episodes

Originally commissioned as a single series of thirteen episodes, episodes 1–7 were transmitted as series one, broadcast in 2009, and episodes 8–13 were transmitted as series two, broadcast in 2010. A second run of thirteen episodes was commissioned in 2010, with episodes 1–7 being transmitted as series three, broadcast in 2010, and episodes 8–13 being transmitted as series four, broadcast in 2011. A third run of thirteen episodes was commissioned in October 2010, with episodes 1–6 being transmitted as series five, broadcast in 2011, and episodes 7–13 being transmitted as series six, due to be broadcast in 2012.

In Canada and the United States, each thirteen episode run is transmitted as a single season, meaning a total of three seasons have been broadcast thus far.

Filming

Filming on the first series of Law & Order: UK began in January 2008, and at the time, discrepancies were identified by cast member Jamie Bamber, who in an interview with Variety magazine, claimed "if things are to continue the way they do, it's likely we won't get a second series. However, ITV comissioned a further thirteen episodes, and filming began in the third quarter of 2009. These episodes were subsequently broadcast from 9 September 2010. For the Law part of the series, frequent filming on-location around London takes place, while for the Order part, filming around the exterior of the Old Bailey takes place concurrently on Sundays. Filming of the courtroom interior, police station office and the Crown Prosecution Service office takes place on a specially built set on disused Ministry of Defence base in Qinetiq, based near the M25 motorway in Surrey. The police station set was specifically designed with an eye for realism; with personal items on each of the desks, and an ironing board and clean shirts being placed around for the eventuality of police officers heading to court. The campus of University College London, including the main quadrangle and the cloisters, was used for the basis of filming for scenes due to be aired in series six.

Cast

Main article: List of Law & Order: UK characters

The original cast of Law & Order: UK from Series 1–4: Bradley Walsh, Freema Agyeman, Ben Daniels, Jamie Bamber, Harriet Walter, and Bill Paterson.

The current main cast. Bill Paterson and Ben Daniels departed the cast in the series 4 finale, whilst Jamie Bamber departed in the series 5 finale. They were replaced by Paul Nicholls, Dominic Rowan, and Peter Davison, pictured with Bradley Walsh, Freema Agyeman, and Harriet Walter.

Name	Portrayed by	Occupation	Series
			1	2	3	4	5	6
Ronnie Brooks	Bradley Walsh	Senior Detective Sergeant	Main
Matt Devlin	Jamie Bamber	Junior Detective Sergeant (murdered)	Main					N/A
Sam Casey	Paul Nicholls	Junior Detective Sergeant	N/A					Main
Natalie Chandler	Harriet Walter	Detective Inspector	Main
James Steel	Ben Daniels	Senior Crown Prosecutor (resigned)	Main				N/A
Jacob Thorne	Dominic Rowan	Senior Crown Prosecutor	N/A				Main
Alesha Phillips	Freema Agyeman	Junior Crown Prosecutor	Main
George Castle	Bill Paterson	Director of CPS London (retired)	Main				N/A
Henry Sharpe	Peter Davison	Director of CPS London	N/A				Main

Broadcasting

In the United Kingdom, Law & Order: UK is broadcast on ITV. In Ireland, TV3 broadcasts each episode a day after the British airing, however, the series is billed as Law and Order: London to distinguish itself from the original American series.

In Canada, Citytv began broadcasting the series on 11 June 2009 and in Australia, Network Ten began broadcasting the series in August 2009.

In the United States, the series began broadcasting on BBC America on 3 October 2010, and since, all six series have been shown back to back.

The series also broadcasts in France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and New Zealand.

Country	Network(s)	Series 1 (episodes 1–7)	Series 2 (episodes 8–13)	Series 3 (episodes 14–20)	Series 4 (episodes 21–26)	Series 5 (episodes 27–32)	Series 6 (episodes 33–39)
Australia	Network 10	12 August 2009	12 August 2011
Brazil	A&E	3 March 2010	21 April 2010	22 September 2010	10 November 2010
Canada	Citytv	11 June 2009	30 July 2009	16 September 2010	4 November 2010
Finland	YLE TV1	6 September 2009	25 October 2009	11 December 2011
Denmark	TV 2	June 2011	August 2011
France	TF1 13ème Rue		6 June 2010
Germany	Fox Channel	4 February 2010	25 March 2010	5 May 2011	23 June 2011
Ireland	TV3	24 February 2009
Iceland	SkjárEinn	9 May 2010
Italy	Fox Crime			14 March 2011
Mexico	A&E	2010
Netherlands	NET 5	23 October 2009
New Zealand	TV1	27 September 2009
Portugal	AXN	TBC
South Africa	SET TV			7 October 2010
Sweden	Sjuan			30 June 2010
United Kingdom	ITV	23 February 2009	11 January 2010	9 September 2010	7 March 2011	10 July 2011	6 January 2012
United States	BBC America	3 October 2010	19 November 2010	14 January 2011	4 March 2011	17 August 2011	28 September 2011

Reception

Independent writer Robin Jarossi, who attended a special preview of the premiere episode at the British Film Institute in London on 5 February 2009, praised the uniquely British take on the franchise for balancing the new vision while maintaining the proven Law & Order formula. Jarossi specifically extolled the unexpected casting of Bradley Walsh, the excellent use of their London backdrop, and Chibnall's adaptation of the show. John Boland of the Irish Independent compared Law & Order: UK to the original, ultimately deciding that the former is just as engrossing as the latter, if its tone is slightly more jocular. Boland expects ITV "has a winner on its hands." Andrew Billen from The Times expects the series to be successful based on the premiere episode, and TV Times said that "those concerned can give themselves a pat on the back because this really, really works." The Daily Express' Matt Baylis described the new series as "a breath of fresh air", and the Daily Mirror said "It’s all highly professional and heroic." Variety magazine called the series a hit, quoting NBC Universal as saying, "'Law and Order' has won its slot every week and is actually increasing its ratings." While Radio Times reviewer Alison Graham felt the series' execution was adequate, she criticised its pacing and writing; the former for not matching that of the original Law & Order programmes, and the latter for "falling headfirst into a typically British legal-drama trap of the noble prosecutor, crusading to bring the guilty to justice while pitted against the louche, self-serving defence barrister." Whereas, on the other hand, The Guardian's Sarah Dempster didn't feel that using the original series' camera work and stylings was appropriate for British crime drama: "Fiddly. And wrong.". However, later on in the series' run The Observer's Kathryn Flytt writes that despite her initial prejudices, the series "seems to have absorbed the pace and energy of the original without looking too tricksily derivative". In Australia, Melinda Houston commented favourably in The Age on the show's opening series, opining that the fusion between British crime drama and the US Law & Order franchise is like "a match made in Heaven." The premiere episode which aired on 12 August 2009, only rated 775,000 viewers, and was outside the top 15 rated shows for that period.

Home Releases

Region 2

DVD Volume	Release Date	Episodes	Additional Features
Series 1 (Episodes 1–7)	11 January 2010	7	Audio Commentary ("Care") Deleted Scenes Extended Scenes Alternate Beginning ("Care") Summing Up ("Vice") CPS Set Tour Interview with Jamie Bamber Interview with Chris Chibnall Interview with Bradley Walsh Interview with Dick Wolf
Series 2 (Episodes 8–13)	22 February 2010	6	Audio Commentaries ("Samaritan", "Honour Bound") Deleted Scenes Extended Scenes Police Set Tour Interview with Harriet Walter Interview with Richard Stokes Interview with Robert Glenister
Series 3 (Episodes 14–20)	7 March 2011	7	Audio Commentary ("Masquerade") From Dawn 'Til Dusk: Featurette
Series 4 (Episodes 21–26)	11 July 2011	6	Audio Commentary ("Help") Gag Reel
Series 1–4 (Episodes 1–26)	11 July 2011	26	Interview with Freema Agyeman Interview with Ben Daniels Interview with Bill Paterson Interview with Harriet Walter Interview with Jamie Bamber Interview with Bradley Walsh Interview with Richard Stokes Wardrobe Tour with Freema Agyeman Tour Of Court Set with Freema Agyeman
Series 5 (Episodes 27–32)	6 February 2012	6	Interview with Dominic Rowan Interview with Freema Agyeman Interview with Peter Davison
Series 6 (Episodes 33–39)	2 April 2012	7	Interview with Bradley Walsh Interview with Paul Nicholls Interview with Harriet Walter

Region 1

DVD title	Release date	Episodes	Additional information
Series One (Episodes 1–13)	26 October 2010	13	Audio Commentaries ("Care", "Samaritan" & "Honour Bound") Deleted Scenes Extended Scenes Alternate Beginning ("Care") Summing Up ("Vice") CPS Set Tour Police Set Tour Interview with Jamie Bamber Interview with Chris Chibnall Interview with Bradley Walsh Interview with Dick Wolf Interview with Harriet Walter Interview with Richard Stokes Interview with Robert Glenister
Series Two (Episodes 14–26)	22 November 2011	13	Audio Commentaries ("Masquerade" & "Help") From Dawn 'Till Dusk: Featurette Gag Reel

External links

• Law & Order: UK at itv.com
• Law & Order: UK at the Internet Movie Database
• Law & Order: UK at TV.com
• Law & Order: UK on the Law & Order Wiki