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- Apple TV+
- Jan 9, 2024
- Apple TV+
- Jan 9, 2024
Summary Detective Sergeant June Lenker (Cush Jumbo) investigates an anonymous phone call that puts a confession from a case Chief Inspector Daniel Hegarty (Peter Capaldi) worked on in doubt in this thriller series from Paul Rutman.
Created By: Paul Rutman
- Apple TV+
- Jan 9, 2024
- Apple TV+
- Jan 9, 2024
Summary Detective Sergeant June Lenker (Cush Jumbo) investigates an anonymous phone call that puts a confession from a case Chief Inspector Daniel Hegarty (Peter Capaldi) worked on in doubt in this thriller series from Paul Rutman.
Created By: Paul Rutman
Season Episodes
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 19 Critic Reviews
73
79% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
21% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 19 Critic Reviews
73
79% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
21% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Criminal Record doesn’t traffic in binary characterizations; neither June nor her nemesis are as good or as bad as they seem. Both make assumptions about the other and regularly circumvent the rules to further their agenda, and I toggled at least four times between believing one’s version of events over the other’s. The uncertainty adds a tantalizing layer of tension to June and Hegarty’s many clashes, as does the thrill of watching Jumbo and Capaldi face off.
Criminal Record’s central case doesn’t exactly break new ground in terms of its storytelling, though it does touch on several painfully timely issues around the larger failings and institutional problems of policing and justice generally. (Though, on the whole, it is better at asking questions than it is at answering them.) But as a two-hander between two powerhouse performers at the top of their respective games? It’s more than worth your time.
Don’t let the plodding title put you off: Criminal Record is anything but your average police drama by numbers.
All the elements needed for a great, compulsive police drama are there: undercurrents of wrongdoing by those in power, exposed by an underdog copper against all the odds… with lots of action added in for extra oomph. If it was on a more mainstream channel, its success would be inevitable.
Criminal Record is as relevant as it is suspenseful, crackling whenever Jumbo and Capaldi share the screen. [8 - 28 Jan, p.8]
Cush Jumbo and her character are the reasons why we’re going to keep watching Criminal Record. Not that we hate Peter Capaldi’s character, but at the outset he feels much more generic than Jumbo’s character, and given that the two of them face off during the entire season, that could end up being a big problem.
What might be a knotty enough case to sustain a two-hour movie or a four-episode arc within a longer drama starts to drag over eight hours. Which might be more forgivable if the world of the show were engaging enough to stand on its own merits — but despite creator Paul Rutman’s ear for natural-sounding dialogue, his characters hardly seem to deepen past the ideas they’re meant to represent.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 6 User Ratings
8.0
100% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 6 User Ratings
8.0
100% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
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