Law & Order UK should be renamed Law & Order SWSTS (Silly Wigs, Stupid Theme Song). I’ve watched a few episodes of it so far, and I can’t say I dislike it. It’s got that (always strangely-unconvincingly-accented) guy from Battlestar Galactica playing a slightly brash and naive detective alongside someone who appears to be agent Jason Gideon after a stroke that makes him constantly grin at whatever anyone says. From what I gather, the crown prosecutors are Doctor Who and companion, which I don’t really mind, as it seems there is a very small pool of British television actors and characters to choose from. In fact, I believe the “In the criminal justice system…” speech preceding each episode is voiced by Noel Fielding.
The first episode I watched, which was the first of the second season, began with an unarmed police officer being shot to death. This theme didn’t seem to continue throughout the other episodes as they tend to gloss over how the police actually catch criminals using only cries of, “Oy you, stop there!” except in the cases when they call in the armed Tuttle Taskforce ahead of time.
The detectives are strangely successful at getting suspects and witnesses to agree to impromptu property searches, which I’m not sure whether to attribute to differing laws not requiring subpoenas and warrants or just the passivity of a culture unused to questioning authority.
Every case involves a strong undercurrent of flagrant affronts to libertarianism with heavy use of CCTV footage, mandatory DNA sampling, and lawyers not advising their clients not to answer interrogation questions. All the bajillions of CCTV cameras blanketing London seem to be about as useful as the few ATM cameras used as evidence in the American Law and Orders, as high-crime neighborhoods supposedly bash all the cameras, slightly grainy picture quality is inadmissible in British court, and the use of hooded sweatshirts seems to stymie the entire system. After all of this, the stakes are abysmally low. Since the UK only tends to keep highly dangerous criminals locked up for a couple years, they might as well not waste their time. Who’s the winner, the convicted murderer only spending a couple years in the clink, or the people who had to don wigs and argue for weeks to send them there?
Speaking of the prosecution, L&O:UK gives us an interesting glimpse into the British legal arguing style. Instead of making lawyers interact with suspects and witnesses as Jeopardy contestants, the lawyers are apparently free to speak their minds. This usually devolves in each episode to the main prosecutor guy shouting “YOU LIE!” to the accused, which usually wins the case.
I will gladly look past all of these problems if the show’s creators would just acquiesce to my numerous emails and cast the guy who played Gaius Baltar as the character Gaius Baltar.
