LAW AND ORDER UK

Bradley Walsh and Jamie Berber

LAW AND ORDER UK British television series; 53 episodes. 2009. 

The American series Law and Order had just about wrapped up its twenty-year run, when producer Dick Wolf came out with this British version which ran for five seasons and 53 episodes. The series reused storylines from the American show but the scripts were re-written, with occasional changes in plot or outcome, and of course the characters of the cops and prosecutors were all different, making this essentially a completely different series despite the utilization of some familiar premises. A mainstay throughout the entire series was Bradley Walsh who superbly played detective Ronnie Brooks in every single episode. Like Lennie Briscoe in the American version, he was a reformed alcoholic, but there the resemblance ended. Ronnie had more compassion than Briscoe and he never made quips over dead bodies like Briscoe did. Jamie Berber was also outstanding as Ronnie's first partner, Matt Devlin. 

Daniels, Agyeman, Paterson

The original prosecuting team consisted of Ben Daniels as James Steel, Freema Agyeman as Alesha Phillips, and Bill Paterson as George Castle. (Like Jack McCoy on the original L & O, Steel had affairs with numerous co-workers, and left the series after being put on trial for misconduct.) Other fine actors appeared as replacements for both cops and ADAs over the years, but the original team was arguably the best. As good as the acting could be on the American version, these British actors had them beat. 

Among the more notable episodes were: "Vice," in which a cop is found dead in his car and in a compromising position; "Unsafe," in which Steel grabbles with a sociopath brilliantly played by Iain Glen; "Buried," in which a woman has memories of her father murdering a childhood friend; "Alesha," in which the prosecutor is raped by a gynecologist; "Shaken," which poses the question of which person shook a little baby to death. In "Crush" a prostitute's client is accused of her murder. "Intent" asks if a man murdered a couple at his parents' old house when he was drunk. "Survivor's Guilt" has the murderer of a major character  put on trial. In "Paternal" a deadbeat dad  is shot in his hotel room. "Hard Stop" examines the murders of a mob boss and several witnesses. "Haunted" poses an interesting dilemma: a man offers up a deathbed confession, but another suspect has already been convicted of the crime. Every episode of the series is available on Amazon Prime. 

Verdict: Possibly a bit better than the original series, with some great acting and stories (even if recycled). ***.