Before I start, it should be noted that Bradley Walsh and Jamie Bamber regularly provide good performances. In fact Bradley Walsh should be commended as he always provides something more than just the script in every scene he is in.
The start of a second series has shown an improvement in the police procedural half of the show but rest of the show however is seriously let down by poor scripts and an Americanisation of the English legal system. Since when do barristers have time to go around conducting their own investigations? The whole show comes across as having English accents and London locations substituted into American scripts. No other effort seems to have been made to make the script either English or believable. And there lies the second biggest problem of the series: the unBritishness of the moral issues championed in the show as well as how they are both perceived and handled. When watching the original Law and Order shows that these scripts were taken from one can dismiss the situation and reactions of the actors as being American through ignorance and enjoy the "foreign" show. However, when the _exact_ same show is presented in a familiar setting one realises how ridiculous it really is.
As someone who enjoys Law and Order, and who wishes British shows were more fast paced and American at times, I keep trying to give this show a chance. Unfortunately, a second series in and it is still unbelievable.
The start of a second series has shown an improvement in the police procedural half of the show but rest of the show however is seriously let down by poor scripts and an Americanisation of the English legal system. Since when do barristers have time to go around conducting their own investigations? The whole show comes across as having English accents and London locations substituted into American scripts. No other effort seems to have been made to make the script either English or believable. And there lies the second biggest problem of the series: the unBritishness of the moral issues championed in the show as well as how they are both perceived and handled. When watching the original Law and Order shows that these scripts were taken from one can dismiss the situation and reactions of the actors as being American through ignorance and enjoy the "foreign" show. However, when the _exact_ same show is presented in a familiar setting one realises how ridiculous it really is.
As someone who enjoys Law and Order, and who wishes British shows were more fast paced and American at times, I keep trying to give this show a chance. Unfortunately, a second series in and it is still unbelievable.