I just watched the premiere of "Law & Order: UK" on U-Tube, (hopefully it will appear on my local cable outlet before long: per Wikipedia, Dick Wolf would like to show it on NBC). I've loved Law & Order for years but also enjoy the British cop shows so this new program unites two great traditions with plenty of know-how.
The premiere is based on episode #40 of the original series, "Cradle to Grave", first shown 3/31/92. Per "Law & Order: The Unofficial Companion" by Kevin Courrier and Susan Green, which came out in 1998, "Cradle to Grave" was "written during a period when the Upper West Side of Manhattan was undergoing massive renewal. There were several landlords who were notorious for hiring thugs to throw little old ladies out on the street with their belongings and then trash the building so they couldn't get back in. And the city did not have the capacity at the time to cope with how much of it was happening. You were sickened every day with wonder as to how anybody could do this." One poster decried the use of early L&O scripts of the UK series, saying that one of the aspects of the original show that he liked was the "ripped from the headlines" relevancy of it. I'm sure this type of thing continues to go on anywhere in the world where urban renewal is taking place and that the writers of L&O-UK would not have chosen this episode to adopt unless it was just as relevant to London in 2009 as it was to New York in 1992.
One difference appears to be the climate. In the original, the baby froze to death because the heat was turned off in the winter and the temperature in the building was 20 degrees Fahrenheit, (which is about -7 Centigrade). In the UK version, the baby died of gas inhalation. I guess the Gulf Stream required the script to be altered a bit.
I was pleased to see that the "Law & Order" style was retained: the hand-held camera, the jump cuts, the no-nonsense dialog, the sardonic humor and the concentration on the case, which we follow in it's, (unnaturally rapid), progress through the courts. It was recognizably L&O but adapted to the British system of justice, complete with those adorable wigs they still wear in court. The cast was good, although American ears will have a tough time following the cockney-style dialog of the cops, (are the US cops as impenetrable to British ears?).
There has been some comment about the unlikelihood of ex-athlete and comedian Bradley Walsh in the "veteran cop" role but I think he does OK. You will note that the most beloved of the veteran cops on the original L&O was played by Jerry Orbach, a legendary Broadway song and dance man. I'm sure that's what they had in mind, although the veteran cop in "Cradle to Grave" is Paul Sorvino as Phil Cerretta, (a much underrated performance).
I really like Ben Daniels as the prosecutor. He really hits all the right notes. Posters have compared him to Jack McCoy, (Sam Waterson), but "Cradle to Grave" is a Ben Stone, (Michael Moriarity), episode. I like Jack/Sam but Ben/Michael has always been my favorite prosecutor.
Dick Wolf has suggested that if this new series is a success, there could be a "hands across the water" cross-over episode. I'd love to see it. He also is thinking of extending it to other countries. He's talking about a Muslim version: Law and Order: Cairo. I'd suggest one in Jerusalem, which would have to deal with multiple religious and legal traditions, or Mumbai, (a perfect follow-up to "Slumdog Millionaire"). Maybe we could have a Law & Order: Bejing to see how cops and lawyers try to find justice in a non-democracy. Maybe someday the whole world will be united by hearing that "doink doink" and by a greater understanding of each other's legal and moral traditions
The premiere is based on episode #40 of the original series, "Cradle to Grave", first shown 3/31/92. Per "Law & Order: The Unofficial Companion" by Kevin Courrier and Susan Green, which came out in 1998, "Cradle to Grave" was "written during a period when the Upper West Side of Manhattan was undergoing massive renewal. There were several landlords who were notorious for hiring thugs to throw little old ladies out on the street with their belongings and then trash the building so they couldn't get back in. And the city did not have the capacity at the time to cope with how much of it was happening. You were sickened every day with wonder as to how anybody could do this." One poster decried the use of early L&O scripts of the UK series, saying that one of the aspects of the original show that he liked was the "ripped from the headlines" relevancy of it. I'm sure this type of thing continues to go on anywhere in the world where urban renewal is taking place and that the writers of L&O-UK would not have chosen this episode to adopt unless it was just as relevant to London in 2009 as it was to New York in 1992.
One difference appears to be the climate. In the original, the baby froze to death because the heat was turned off in the winter and the temperature in the building was 20 degrees Fahrenheit, (which is about -7 Centigrade). In the UK version, the baby died of gas inhalation. I guess the Gulf Stream required the script to be altered a bit.
I was pleased to see that the "Law & Order" style was retained: the hand-held camera, the jump cuts, the no-nonsense dialog, the sardonic humor and the concentration on the case, which we follow in it's, (unnaturally rapid), progress through the courts. It was recognizably L&O but adapted to the British system of justice, complete with those adorable wigs they still wear in court. The cast was good, although American ears will have a tough time following the cockney-style dialog of the cops, (are the US cops as impenetrable to British ears?).
There has been some comment about the unlikelihood of ex-athlete and comedian Bradley Walsh in the "veteran cop" role but I think he does OK. You will note that the most beloved of the veteran cops on the original L&O was played by Jerry Orbach, a legendary Broadway song and dance man. I'm sure that's what they had in mind, although the veteran cop in "Cradle to Grave" is Paul Sorvino as Phil Cerretta, (a much underrated performance).
I really like Ben Daniels as the prosecutor. He really hits all the right notes. Posters have compared him to Jack McCoy, (Sam Waterson), but "Cradle to Grave" is a Ben Stone, (Michael Moriarity), episode. I like Jack/Sam but Ben/Michael has always been my favorite prosecutor.
Dick Wolf has suggested that if this new series is a success, there could be a "hands across the water" cross-over episode. I'd love to see it. He also is thinking of extending it to other countries. He's talking about a Muslim version: Law and Order: Cairo. I'd suggest one in Jerusalem, which would have to deal with multiple religious and legal traditions, or Mumbai, (a perfect follow-up to "Slumdog Millionaire"). Maybe we could have a Law & Order: Bejing to see how cops and lawyers try to find justice in a non-democracy. Maybe someday the whole world will be united by hearing that "doink doink" and by a greater understanding of each other's legal and moral traditions