History Series / LawAndOrderUK

A [[TheRemake remake]] of ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'' (2009-2014), set in the UK, specifically UsefulNotes/{{London}} (it had a WorkingTitle of ''Law & Order: London''). Since October 2010 the series has aired for North American audiences on BBC America.

The showrunner, by the way, was Creator/ChrisChibnall (of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' and ''Series/DoctorWho'').

* NotSoDifferent: Alesha and the defendant in "Survivor". Interestingly they already have similar backgrounds, having grown up poor in a council estate in Hackney. When James points out that their paths in life could have easily been reversed, with the defendant being the CP and Alesha being the one in jail for drug-dealing, Alesha vehemently denies this, pointing out that she worked hard in school and at three jobs and that the defendant could have easily done the same. Ultimately, however, both women became victims of rape and blame themselves for actions that put them into dangerous situations.

* AdaptationalHeroism: The child killer in "Broken," a remake of The Mothership episode "Killerz," is portrayed as a lot more scared and remorseful than the stone cold sociopath in the original.

** '''Ronnie''': ''(to Matt, regarding a previous partner's death)'' "There was nothing I could do."
'''Ronnie''': ''(to his AA group, regarding '''Matt's''' death)'' "I couldn't get to him in time."

** --> '''Ronnie''': ''(to Matt, regarding a previous partner's death)'' "There was nothing I could do."
--> '''Ronnie''': ''(to his AA group, regarding '''Matt's''' death) "I couldn't get to him in time."

* AlternateUniverseFic: As cited on the "Fanfic" page. The vast majority of fanfics, typically picking up after Series 1, cash in on the sexual tension between Matt and Alesha and pair them--they begin dating at the beginning of one long-running collection of stories and are HappilyMarried and expecting their second child as of the most recent one.

* ICantLookGesture: Matt and James do this separately while watching the tape of Alesha's rape--Matt stands are far away from the TV as possible and turns his back, while James repeatedly averts his eyes. During the trial, when the tape is played again, this time they ''both'' turn their heads away.

The showrunner, by the way, was Creator/ChrisChibnall (of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'').

** In "Bad Faith", it's established that Mike Logan was molested at least once by his local priest. In "Confession", it is left ambiguous as to whether Matt suffered the same fate--he spends the entire episode denying it outright, before finally admitting to Ronnie that his memories are unclear and that in truth, he genuinely doesn't know if anything happened. For some, that might make it an example of the [[DarkerAndEdgier other]] trope--is the mostly happy-go-lucky Matt actually a StepfordSmiler in complete denial of the horrible things that happened to him?

** 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 Creator/JamieBamber 's last episode doesn't make those final minutes any less shocking]].

--> Let us know when you're coming and we'll bung on a cup of tea for you.

## "Skeletons" ("Trophy" [season 7])

* LongRunnerCastTurnover: Series 5 began with 1/3rd of the original cast gone, Series 6 with 1/2, and as of Series 7 (by British standards, the show has been on a very long time), Bradley Walsh was the only original cast member remaining--and he won't be back for Series 9, if there is one.

* 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, right down to the way the girl mutilated her victim (including carving her initial into him), the heavy implication that she was psychologically damaged from years of witnessing her mother's work as a prostitute and may very well have been molested by her mother's clients, and the 13 year old sidekick that ended up not going to prison. However, there was one major difference. In RealLife, the victim's families were unhappy with the little sociopath's light sentence for cold blooded murder and her accomplice got off completely. On the show though the victim’s mother argued that her son’s murderess should not be punished and just needed rehabilitation and acted like her sentence (the same as the real Mary Bell) was too harsh. Needless to say the victims' families were not happy with the change.

** Chandler has a [[Series/DoctorWho TARDIS]] on her desk. ([[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Or maybe she just likes old fashioned Police Call Boxes?]] Nah, I don't believe it either.)

** The gangster Don Marsh expresses his contempt for the law in many ways, including addressing DS Brooks by his Christian name. Brooks will have none of it, insisting:

* WeAreEverywhere: A Neo-Nazi suspected of killing a Jewish man with a letter bomb make a speech like this, filling the air with tension, which DS Ronnie Brooks promptly bursts with:

* WholePlotReference: the stories are all based on US scripts.

** "Defence" - The defendant in [[Series/LawAndOrder "Pro Se"]] was portrayed far more sympathetically; less trying to duck the consequences of his actions as clinging to a chance to do what he was trained to do and angry at the mental disease that led him to those acts. The defendant in "Defence" showed an utter lack of remorse for any of his actions and treated the whole thing like he'd smashed someone's window.

** "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. As well, Matt is genuinely angry with Ronnie--his refusal to sit with him in court is a notable complete opposite of previous courtroom scenes--and rebuffs his apologies. The episode ends with them still estranged.

** In "Tremors", the killer is [[spoiler: a prison guard whose mother was killed on the train. He's far more sympathetic and less corrupt than the other examples listed, but his actions are still a major breach of his duty]]

** Subverted with the killer is "Vice", who was being blackmailed for sex by the victim, but her claims that she killed him in self-defense when he tried to rape her outright prove untrue.

** In "Unwanted", as in the original episode it was based on, The lawyer's 'Genetic predisposition toward violence' claim made the defendant believe he was cursed to never escape his DNA, and he asked to be permanently incarcerated.

* GoodCopBadCop: Ronnie and Matt would often alternate these roles, sometimes in the very course of an interrogation, with varying versions of each, depending on what kind of person they were dealing with. Sam took the latter role firmly, but Ronnie and Joe alternated much like Ronnie and Matt did. Some episodes even have them playing both roles--they're both very gentle and supportive of a young suspect in "Vice", and in "Samaritan", Ronnie grills a police officer suspected of leaving his colleague to die while Matt, who believes the man to be innocent, sits silently, leading the suspect (and the audience) to believe he'll be playing "Good Cop". Until Matt opens his mouth and surprises him (and the audience) by proceeding to interrogate him much in the same manner that Ronnie was. It turns out that thanks to some offscreen investigating that shows discrepancies in the man's story, Matt is now just as suspicious as Ronnie.

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 were based on:

* BritishBrevity: 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!''--which was ''still'' split into two separate series of 6 or 7 episodes long, in order to align with British viewing habits. Also averted in that the show lasted for 8 series, which included a landmark 50th episode, something very rare in British television. However, played straight again in that an amount of episodes that would be considered paltry by American standards was landmark by the UK's--the show's cast and crew held a party to celebrate the 50th episode in a manner akin to what Americans would do for the 100th or 200th.

* AFoolForAClient: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] or semi-averted in two episodes: Convicted murderer Luke Slade wins himself a new trial in "Unsafe" based on newly discovered evidence, then an acquittal, just with the law he studied in prison, running rings around the seasoned prosecutors. The mentally ill defendant John Smith in "Defence" also chooses to represent himself, but he'd actually graduated law school before his schizophrenia took over, and even the prosecution agrees he'd have had potential as a lawyer.
** And in his final episode, James Steel does an excellent--and successful--job of defending himself against charges of "perverting the course of justice". It's a nice use of a ChekhovsSkill, as it's been mentioned several times that he used to be a defense attorney, though it's odd to hear him refer to himself in the third person as "the defendant".

* AmoralAttorney: "Limbo" Riley, because of how low he'll stoop.

* AndStarring: Bill Paterson, head lawyer, gets the "And".
** As does Creator/PeterDavison.
** Bradley Walsh now goes before the "Law".

*** And understandably, given both his explicit and implicit backstory, Matt's third BerserkButton is abused children.
*** "I been that kid, Ronnie."

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: 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, Matt is shot.

* 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 too strong. At the episode's end, it's his new partner Sam who takes a glass of whiskey away from him, effectively cementing his place as Matt's replacement.

* BritainIsOnlyLondon: Despite the "UK" present in its title, the show is only set in London (and originally ''had'' the working title of Law and Order: London). That said, the filming locations clearly encompass all of the city, rather than merely the central London seen in most examples of this tropes.
* BritishBrevity: 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!''--which was ''still'' split into two separate series of 6 or 7 episodes long, in order to align with British viewing habits
** Also averted in that the show lasted for 8 series, which included a landmark 50th episode, something very rare in British television.
** But played straight again in that an amount of episodes that would be considered paltry by American standards was landmark by the UK's--the show's cast and crew held a party to celebrate the 50th episode in a manner akin to what Americans would do for the 100th or 200th.

** Also, Devlin is obviously Mike Logan

** George (and now Henry)= Adam Schiff.

*** And in comes Jacob Thorne (Dominic Rowan), who is far closer to Jack [=McCoy=], love life intact. There is only one thing to take from this: [[ThePornomancer British prosecutors have fantastic love lives.]]
*** Kate Barker's defense attorney tactics seem very reminiscent of Serena Southerlyn.
** Even some of the minor characters get this. Phyllis Gladstone=Danielle Melnick, and a shrink the team often consults with is clearly based on Elizabeth Olivet.

* GoneHorriblyRight: In "Unwanted", as in the original episode it was based on, The lawyer's 'Genetic predisposition toward violence' claim made the defendant believe he was cursed to never escape his DNA, and he asked to be permanently incarcerated.

* GoodCopBadCop: Ronnie and Matt would often alternate these roles, sometimes in the very course of an interrogation, with varying versions of each, depending on what kind of person they were dealing with. Sam took the latter role firmly, but Ronnie and Joe alternated much like Ronnie and Matt did.
** Some episodes even have them playing both roles--they're both very gentle and supportive of a young suspect in "Vice", and in "Samaritan", Ronnie grills a police officer suspected of leaving his colleague to die while Matt, who believes the man to be innocent, sits silently, leading the suspect (and the audience) to believe he'll be playing "Good Cop". Until Matt opens his mouth and surprises him (and the audience) by proceeding to interrogate him much in the same manner that Ronnie was. It turns out that thanks to some offscreen investigating that shows discrepancies in the man's story, Matt is now just as suspicious as Ronnie.

** Junior Crown Prosecutor Alesha Phillips, played by [[Creator/FreemaAgyeman Freema "Even The Girls Want Her" Agyeman]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: When Ronnie confronts his corrupt ex-partner, the 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.

* HonorBeforeReason: In "Samaritan" Ronnie insists on investigating the report that a police officer did nothing to aide his dying colleague, despite Matt's angry, steadfast refusal to believe it. The feelings are reversed in the aptly titled "Honor Bound", where it's Matt who insists on investigating an officer's murky account of a shooting, while Ronnie refuses to believe that his friend could be corrupt. In each case, with the evidence mounting, each man reluctantly concedes that the other is right and follows protocol.

* 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 [[ConvictedByPublicOpinion 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...
* ImmediateSequel: "Survivor's Guilt" and "Tremors" begin very soon after the events of their proceeding episodes.

* ILetGwenStacyDie: It's implied that Ronnie feels somewhat responsible for his previous partner's death, telling Matt, "There was nothing I could do". Later, after [[spoiler: Matt himself is killed]], he expresses a similar sentiment while confiding in his AA group--"I couldn't get to him in time"--and giving his statement to the other detectives--"I should have been with him".

** In "Bad Faith", it's established that Mike Logan was molested at least once by his local priest. In "Confession", it is left ambiguous as to whether Matt suffered the same fate--he spends the entire episode denying it outright, before finally admitting to Ronnie that his memories are unclear and that in truth, he genuinely doesn't know if anything happened.
*** For some, that might make it an example of the [[DarkerAndEdgier other]] trope--is the mostly happy-go-lucky Matt actually a StepfordSmiler in complete denial of the horrible things that happened to him?

* TheRemake: Of ''Series/LawAndOrder'' obviously. Notable for being one of the few, if not only British remakes of an American series, when its customarily the other way around.
* 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, right down to the way the girl mutilated her victim (including carving her initial into him), the heavy implication that she was psychologically damaged from years of witnessing her mother's work as a prostitute and may very well have been molested by her mother's clients, and the 13 year old sidekick that ended up not going to prison.
** However, there was one major difference. In RealLife the victims family’s were unhappy with the little sociopath's light sentence for cold blooded murder and her accomplice got off completely. On the show though the victim’s mother argued that her son’s murderess should not be punished and just needed rehabilitation and acted like her sentence (the same as the real Mary Bell) was too harsh. Needless to say the victims’ families were not happy with the change.

* ShoutOut: Chandler has a [[Series/DoctorWho TARDIS]] on her desk. ([[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Or maybe she just likes old fashioned Police Call Boxes?]] Nah, I don't believe it either.)

* SoundEffectsBleep (in America): [[ValuesDissonance "Tit" (not even referring to breasts, just "Don't make me look like a tit") gets bleeped while "bull/shit" gets a pass?]]

** The very title and theme of the episode dealing with [[spoiler: Matt's death. In the opening sequence, Ronnie is seen talking with his AA group, lamenting the fact that he was not able to get to Matt in time to push him out of the way and possibly even [[TakingTheBullet take the bullet]] for him. Then, in a conversation with Alesha, he bemoans the fact that unlike him, Matt never had a chance to experience marriage and fatherhood. Later, when talking with his killer, he goes even further. When he correctly deduces that the young man is so grief-stricken over his brother's death and loved him so much that he would take his place in order to bring him back, it's painfully obvious that he's voicing his own feelings about Matt.]]
** [[spoiler: This is sadly evidenced by Matt's killer himself, as his actions stemmed from his desperation to alleviate his grief and anger over his brother's own murder.]]
* 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 Creator/JamieBamber 's last episode doesn't make those final minutes any less shocking]].

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Many of the more subtle courtroom scenes and interrogation room confessions from the original American episodes are re-interpreted in a much more emotional and over-the-top manner, often bordering on [[{{melodrama}} melodrama]].

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Many of the more subtle courtroom scenes and interrogation room confessions from the original American episodes are re-interpreted in a much more emotional and over-the-top manner, often bordering on [[main/melodrama melodrama]].

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Many of the more subtle courtroom scenes and interrogation room confessions from the original American episodes are re-interpreted in a much more emotional and over-the-top manner, often bordering on melodrama.

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Many of the more subtle courtroom scenes and interrogation room confessions from the original American episodes are re-interpreted in a much more angsty and over-the-top manner, often bordering on melodrama.

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Many of the more subtle courtroom scenes and interrogation room confessions from the original American episodes are re-interpreted in a much more angsty and over-the-top manner, sometimes bordering on melodrama.

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: A lot of the more subtle courtroom scenes and confessions from the original US episodes are re-interpreted as a lot more angsty and over-the-top, sometimes bordering on melodrama.

* AllGaysArePedophiles: Invoked in an episode as the cops investigate the discovery of a boy murdered two decades earlier. They talk to the original cop on the case who turns out to be a major bigot who was convinced the culprit was the next door neighbor. He spent weeks trying to build a case he was abusing the boy and then killed him despite the lack of any evidence. When the detectives ask why he was so sure of this, the cop says "because he was a poof" as if that totally explains it. When they catch the real killer, the detectives grouse the original cop could have solved the case long ago if he wasn't so sure the gay man "had" to be a pedophile as well.

'''[[MostWonderfulSound Chung! Chung!]]'''

SpinOff of ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'' (2009-2014), set in the UK, specifically UsefulNotes/{{London}} (it had a WorkingTitle of ''Law & Order: London''). Since October 2010 the series has aired for North American audiences on BBC America.

* CrossOver: Averted. Despite starring or guest appearances on nearly every other ''Franchise/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.

* SpinOff: Subverted. While of the ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'' franchise, obviously, it's a British version of the original series rather than including any of its characters.

** 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.

** 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.

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: 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.

** It's implied that Matt feels somewhat responsible for his friend's suicide because he didn't protect him from the priest who was molesting him, nor realize that he was contemplating killing himself.

*** "Survivor's Guilt": In the original ("Suicide Box") the perp was a young boy lashing out at the police for botching, then burying, his brother's murder. There, not only did circumstances pile up to increase the sympathy factor, the cop he shot was an unknown character who survived with just an injured arm. The perp in "Guilt" was an adult actively gunning for cops and his victim was a beloved character who perished. But many of the same mitigating factors were ported over from "Suicide Box" (The missing body, the botched investigation) along with the alleged killer being strongly implied to be lying about the murder for street cred.

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

* SpinOff: of the ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'' franchise, of course.