History Series / LawAndOrderUK

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: When Ronnie confronts his corrupt ex-partner, the GenreSavvy man searches him and destroys the wire that he finds. After taking the pack of cigarettes Ronnie offers him, he confesses, at which point Ronnie reveals that there's ''another'' microphone in the pack.

* HopeSpot: there are occasions where the CPS look almost certain to gain a conviction but fall short (for example, "Alesha"). Some episodes [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zag]] the trope to get JusticeByOtherLegalMeans (e.g. "Alesha", "Love and Loss"). "Broken" inverts it when the CPS are trying to get a ten-year-old girl for manslaughter by diminished responsibility, but the [[{{Convicted By Public Opinion}} press latch onto the case and demand a murder conviction, which happens instead, ]] and "Deal" subverts it when the bad guy ''is'' convicted. All that's left to do is for Matt and Alesha to escort the young witness responsible into juvenile hall. But just then, a car pulls up...

* BritishBrevity: Each season has been only 6 or 7 episodes long, and this itself has resulted from a season of only 13 episodes that were split in half in order to align with British viewing habits. The American producers were frustrated by the length they had to work with: only 13 episodes per season. The UK producers were also frustrated by the length they had to work with: a grueling ''13 whole episodes per season!''.

The "Law" included JamieBamber (then Paul Nicholls, then Ben Bailey Smith) and Bradley Walsh as DS Ronnie Brooks (previously known for ''Series/CoronationStreet'') PlayingAgainstType as a detective, and the "Order" includes Ben Daniels (then Dominic Rowan), Creator/FreemaAgyeman (then Georgia Taylor), and Bill Paterson (then Creator/PeterDavison).

* LondonTown: Despite being suffixed with "UK", it takes place solely in London. The working title of the series was ''Law and Order: London''.

** Alesha gets leery of a defendant's claim that she acted in self-defense-—killing the victim after he raped her—-when the girl is completely blase about having to testify, citing that most rape victims are usually terrified at the prospect, as she was.

* CrossOver: Averted. Despite starring or guest appearances on nearly every other LawAndOrder series--one of the creators joked that it's a contractual obligation for Richard Belzer to appear in all of them--JustForFun/JohnMunch never turned up. It's hard to believe that the London setting was too out of the way for the New York based [[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Special Victims Unit]] and [[Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent Major Case Squad]], seeing as how he was able to appear in the French spinoff.

* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: The uber-grim episode "Deal" appears to be ending on a high note--Ronnie's daughter just had a baby boy, the murderous drug dealer has been convicted and Matt and Alesha are escorting the chief witness to juvenile detention, praising him for his courageous testimony. But out of nowhere, shots ring out, [[spoiler: and Matt is fatally injured protecting Alesha and the kid. Even knowing that this would be JamieBamber 's last episode doesn't make those final minutes any less shocking]].

* JusticeByOtherLegalMeans: Lampshaded, and carried out, in Season 2. Subverted in Season 1, when Alesha's rapist is accquited of the charges regarding ''her'', but they are able to nail him for assaulting other women.

*** The victim in "Humiliation" was a drug-addicted streetwalker who was blackmailing a customer eventually arrested for her murder. In "Crush", she's an immigrant who resorted to working for [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold an escort service in order to make ends meet ]] and was hoping that her life would turn out like the plot of PrettyWoman.

* {{Retirony}}: Subverted. Ronnie gushes to Matt about the birth of his grandson and the possibility of reconciling with his estranged daughter. Minutes later. . .''Matt'' is shot.

** The bored housewife prostitute from "Working Mom" became a housewife who turned to prostitution to save her business and marriage in "Vice". ** The gang of cops who set up a gay officer in "Manhood" became a single homophobic cop who was intentionally slow to help in "Samaritan".

** For example, the bored housewife prostitute from "Working Mom" became a housewife who turned to prostitution to save her business and marriage in "Vice", the gang of cops who set up a gay officer in "Manhood" became a single homophobic cop who was intentionally slow to help in "Samaritan", and the unrepentant serial rapist of 12 women from "Mad Dog" became the victim of dreadful childhood abuse who essentially inevitably became a rapist himself and seemed horrified by his actions in "Hounded". There is also the boy in "Born Bad" is given a ray of hope in "Unloved" when he agrees to Steel's suggestion to see a psychologist while in prison despite believing that he is genetically disposed to violent crime.

** The [[AssholeVictim Asshole Victims]] tend to be watered down as well. For example, the victim in "Humiliation" was a drug-addicted streetwalker who was blackmailing a customer eventually arrested for her murder. In "Crush", she's an immigrant who resorted to working for [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold an escort service in order to make ends meet ]] and was hoping that her life would turn out like the plot of PrettyWoman.

Each episode was a remake of an episode of the original series, with the stories updated for the modern day and the UK legal system (a task the writers found harder than they'd thought - you can't chuck FelonyMurder at people in the UK [[note]] or plausibly (thanks to the UK's much stricter gun control laws) [[VigilanteExecution have the Spouse/Parent/Lover/Neighbor/BFF of the victim show up on the courthouse steps with a handgun to kill the baddie every time they appear to get off]][[/note]]. The episodes so far were based on:

** Matt and Alesha, separately, in "Alesha", then Matt again in "Confession"

The "Law" included JamieBamber (then Paul Nicholls, then Ben Bailey Smith) and Bradley Walsh as DS Ronnie Brooks (previously known for ''CoronationStreet'') PlayingAgainstType as a detective, and the "Order" includes Ben Daniels (then Dominic Rowan), Creator/FreemaAgyeman (then Georgia Taylor), and Bill Paterson (then Creator/PeterDavison).

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: Plays the first trope straight while simultaneously subverting the second. At the end of "Deal", Ronnie gushes to Matt about the birth of his grandson and the possibility of reconciling with his daughter. Minutes later... it's ''Matt'' who's been shot.
** Similarly, DI Wes Leyton celebrates his birthday is "Hard Stop"... and is shot and killed after leaving the party.

* HeroicSacrifice: Matt protecting Alesha and the young witness in their case from a hail of gunfire, taking two bullets that would otherwise have struck them. In the following episode, Ronnie expresses remorse that he himself was not able to do this for Matt.

* KickedUpstairs: The job Ronnie's offered during "Repeat To Fade". It's an attempt to quell the public and professional furor over a possible error he made in the investigation. Though the position sounds cushy--more senior, better salary and hours--he realizes that he'd be doing nothing more than sitting behind a desk and is hurt and offended that this is the thanks he gets after decades of dedicated service, as well as the strong implication that his skills as a detective are no longer trusted.

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: Plays the first trope straight while simultaneously subverting the second. At the end of "Deal", Ronnie gushes to Matt about the birth of his grandson and the possibility of reconciling with his daughter. Minutes later. . .it's ''Matt'' who's been shot.
** Similarly, DI Wes Leyton celebrates his birthday is "Hard Stop". . .and is shot and killed after leaving the party.

* BolivianArmyEnding: "Repeat To Fade". Will Ronnie accept the new position he's been offered, despite knowing full well--and being offended by--its KickedUpstairs status? Or will he resign/retire outright? The episode ends with neither question answered, but with Bradley Walsh leaving the show, it would have had to be one or the other. . .except that the show has ended as well, meaning that we'll never know.

** Ronnie's knowledge of French enables him to speak with a witness in the first episode. . .and to a witness in a recent one. It even doubles as a BilingualBackfire, as aside from the fact that Ronnie can speak French, it turns out that the man can understand English after all.

** The PedophilePriest in "Confession" shows up at the station to intimidate Matt. . .ends up making him even angrier and more determined to testify and send him to jail.

* ManlyTears: Matt struggles to hold these back while talking to Alesha after she's raped, but lets loose with them at the end of "Confession". Ronnie also struggles to hold them back throughout "Survivor's Guilt". The closest he comes to losing it is when his voice breaks while describing Matt as "like. . .''my'' son". And Sam sheds plenty during "Tracks" and "Tremors".

** There's also the murder victim in "Masquerade", named. . .Archie.

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition[=/=]{{Retirony}}: Plays the first trope straight while simultaneously subverting the second. At the end of "Deal", Ronnie gushes to Matt about the birth of his grandson and the possibility of reconciling with his daughter. Minutes later. . .it's ''Matt'' who's been shot.

* BloodFromTheMouth[=/=][[spoiler:DiesWideOpen]]: Matt, in the episode "Deals."

* CallBack[=/=]ContinuityNod:

* HeroicSacrifice [=/=] TakingTheBullet: Matt protecting Alesha and the young witness in their case from a hail of gunfire, taking two bullets that would otherwise have struck them. In the following episode, Ronnie expresses remorse that he himself was not able to do this for Matt.

* HopeSpot: there are occasions where the CPS look almost certain to gain a conviction but fall short (for example, "Alesha"). Some episodes [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zag]] the trope to get JusticeByOtherLegalMeans (e.g. "Alesha", "Love and Loss"). "Broken" inverts it when the CPS are trying to get a ten-year-old girl for manslaughter by diminished responsibility, but the [[{{Convicted By Public Opinion}} press latch onto the case and demand a murder conviction, which happens instead, ]] and "Deal" subverts it when the bad guy ''is'' convicted. All that's left to do is for Matt and Alesha to escort the young witness responsible into juvenile hall. But just then, a car pulls up . . .
* [[FunWithAcronyms Initialism's]] [[NamesTheSame The Same]]: In America, CPS is [[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Child Protection Services]] while in the UK it means Crown Prosecution Service.

* INeverSaidItWasPoison[=/=]SayingTooMuch: During the prosecution of an accused rapist/murderer, the key witness is a young woman who had noticed him lurking about the apartment building where the crime took place (and may very well have been the intended victim had she not evaded him). The man angrily denies having been at the building or ever seeing the girl before, calling her a liar and referring to her many tattoos before covering his mouth in horror as he realizes his mistake--although the young woman's arms were indeed covered with tattoos, she was wearing a jacket. The only way he could have known about her tattoos was if he had seen her previously.

* ItsPersonal[=/=]OneOfOurOwn:

* SurprisinglySuddenDeath[=/=]WhamEpisode: The uber-grim episode "Deal" appears to be ending on a high note--Ronnie's daughter just had a baby boy, the murderous drug dealer has been convicted and Matt and Alesha are escorting the chief witness to juvenile detention, praising him for his courageous testimony. But out of nowhere, shots ring out, [[spoiler: and Matt is fatally injured protecting Alesha and the kid. Even knowing that this would be JamieBamber 's last episode doesn't make those final minutes any less shocking]].

** The mention that Ronnie's grandson is named Matthew. Given that he was born the day Matt was killed, it's obvious that he was named after him. It's as close as possible to a mention of him since his death.

** DS McFadden in "Buried" who was so convinced that AllGaysArePedophiles that he relentlessly interrogated--to the point of police brutality--the gay neighbor of a missing boy. 20-something years later, when the boy's remains are found, he is ''still'' convinced that the man was responsible and it's heavily implied that the real killer could have been caught from the beginning had it not been for his narrow-minded focus on the wrong person.

** The victim in "Vice" turns out to have been an AssholeVictim--he was blackmailing his killer for sex in exchange for not arresting her nor revealing her secret life as a prostitute. It's implied that he'd done this to other women.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: As with all ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'' series, but the third season opener, "Broken" (much like the original ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode that it was based on) is a particularly blatant replica of both the Jamie Bulger case, right down to the infamous CCTV footage of the killers leading the little boy away, and the Mary Bell case from the 60’s with the names changed right down to the girl carving her initials onto the victim, and the 13 year old sidekick that ended up not going to prison.

-->'''Brooks''': ''DS'' Devlin, you mean?

* ZippingUpTheBodybag: After the cold opening and credits of "Hard Stop", just to establish that Wes Leyton is indeed dead. It happens at the end of the cold open of "Skeletons" also.

* BittersweetEnding: To many episodes where legal victory can come at a great cost. Driven home in "Survivor's Guilt"--[[spoiler: Matt's killer is caught, confesses, pleads guilty, and even sincerely apologizes for his actions. But despite all this, Matt, like so many other victims, can never be brought back.]]

* BookEnds: At the beginning of " Survivor's Guilt", Ronnie confides in his AA group that Matt was always the one to stop him drinking whenever the temptation got to strong. At the episode's end, it's his new partner Sam who takes a glass of whiskey from him, effectively cementing his place as Matt's replacement.

** "Anonymous" - In "Stalker", the original episode, Jack is very reluctant to eviscerate Curtis regarding errors made during the investigation and as such, only briefly criticizes him when he's testifying. He sincerely apologizes afterwards and Curtis accepts, knowing that it was necessary to win the case, then quickly reconciles with Lennie, whose attempts to cover up said errors caused the whole mess. In "Anonymous", Ronnie does the same thing, but to a far greater degree, resulting in ''Matt'' looking dishonest and incompetent and thoroughly humiliated in court by James, who shows not a trace of guilt or remorse for it.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Sam disappeared between Series 7 and 8, with no explanation as to why.
* ContinuityNod: Ronnie's knowledge of French enables him to speak with a witness in the first episode. . .and to a witness in a recent one. It even doubles as a BilingualBackfire, as aside from the fact that Ronnie can speak French, it turns out that the man can understand English after all.
** Ronnie's grandson, born the day Matt was killed, being named after him. It's as close as possible to a mention of him since his death.