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Law and Order UK

The TV mags slated the second episode in their "what's on today" columns. That might well have something to do with reduced viewership.
 
ratings were 5.8 million, ITV will be happy with that, sure they lost to Who Do You Think You Are, but if the show keeps up ratings like that all series ITV wont be complaing
 
Maybe I find law boring but I'd be happy if the show was just called "Law". The investigation bits are just more interesting than the law bits.
 
Curious coincidence corner: Linus Roache, son of Coronoation Street's Bill Roache aka Ken Barlow, stars in Law and Order US. As a child, Linus played Ken's son Peter on the soap. The UK version stars Bradley Walsh, who played Danny Baldwin, son of Mike Baldwin, Ken's longtime rival turned friend, on Coronation Street.

IIRC, at one stage during the tortuous Barlow/Baldwin storyline, Mike married Peter's sister. Which would make Bradley Walsh the step-nephew of Linus Roache.

My head hurts.
 
Maybe I find law boring but I'd be happy if the show was just called "Law". The investigation bits are just more interesting than the law bits.

Got to agree with you there - that's why my favourite L&O franchisee has always been SVU - nearly all investigation, only the bare minimum of court time. Of course the reason is simply that it wasn't intended to be a L&O show until well into its creation, but hey ;)
The sheer bollocks of the CPS bit really grates on me, I have to say. We have CPS prosecutors meeting informants, doing post-arrest interviews, all kinds of weird stuff - it's as if there's a rule that the detective characters can't appear after the 2nd ad break so the lawyers suddenly do the police work.
 
Maybe I find law boring but I'd be happy if the show was just called "Law". The investigation bits are just more interesting than the law bits.

Got to agree with you there - that's why my favourite L&O franchisee has always been SVU - nearly all investigation, only the bare minimum of court time. Of course the reason is simply that it wasn't intended to be a L&O show until well into its creation, but hey ;)
The sheer bollocks of the CPS bit really grates on me, I have to say. We have CPS prosecutors meeting informants, doing post-arrest interviews, all kinds of weird stuff - it's as if there's a rule that the detective characters can't appear after the 2nd ad break so the lawyers suddenly do the police work.
The police appeared after the second break in the first episode :p
 
Well I have to say I quite like the 2 cops Ronnie and Matt but The CPS characters seem a little more stereotypical.

My original thought was that I liked the cops and not the CPS, but I thought James Steel's speech at the end was very powerful, so he at least has some presence. We'll see if that side improves a bit as time goes on.
The CPS were definitely better than last week. I hope they both improve over time and it could become a show I really enjoy.

They certainly picked a good episode to showcase the Crown Prosecution Service. It's what Law & Order is about. If it were just about the investigation, it would be far more black and white. But a 13-year old murderer certainly complicates things a lot. Great acting, especially from the kid.

I looked ahead to the next two episodes. While I can't figure out the next episode, the one after that was interesting in the US version. I'm curious to see how the show will go after they've stopped using US plots, but if the acting continues to be this good, it really won't matter because they're just as good as the originals.
 
My original thought was that I liked the cops and not the CPS, but I thought James Steel's speech at the end was very powerful, so he at least has some presence. We'll see if that side improves a bit as time goes on.
The CPS were definitely better than last week. I hope they both improve over time and it could become a show I really enjoy.

They certainly picked a good episode to showcase the Crown Prosecution Service. It's what Law & Order is about. If it were just about the investigation, it would be far more black and white. But a 13-year old murderer certainly complicates things a lot. Great acting, especially from the kid.

I looked ahead to the next two episodes. While I can't figure out the next episode, the one after that was interesting in the US version. I'm curious to see how the show will go after they've stopped using US plots, but if the acting continues to be this good, it really won't matter because they're just as good as the originals.
Well apparently using the stories from the original were contractual, so it may not be possible for them to do original stories of their own. But I suppose they'll have to if Dick Wolf gets his way and they up the order to 18 or 20 episodes per series. I doubt ITV would ever do that though.
 
^ Extremely unlikely, I'd say - maybe 12-15 episodes at a push, but a British funded show approaching 20/season? I can't see it happening, myself.

The 'warrior gene' plot was an SVU one too, although I have to say by making it a kid and having the twist that he actually believed it, the UK version did it better, imho.
 
^The first series is 13 episodes, but apparently he's disappointed it's so low, and wants a higher amount so it can play on network TV in the US.
 
^The first series is 13 episodes, but apparently he's disappointed it's so low, and wants a higher amount so it can play on network TV in the US.
Does the man not know how UK TV works:wtf:
13 is a lot for a uk tv show maybe next time he should to some research before selling his format.
 
^The first series is 13 episodes, but apparently he's disappointed it's so low, and wants a higher amount so it can play on network TV in the US.
Does the man not know how UK TV works:wtf:
13 is a lot for a uk tv show maybe next time he should to some research before selling his format.

Well, Doctor Who and Torchwood both have 13 episodes a series, so there's at least some precedent for having that much. I agree that more would be a bit high. He'll have to just wait for two seasons.

Although, generally, American audiences don't like British accents all that much since some of them are hard to understand.
 
Been watchig this and its pretty good although the law part is better than the order bit. Its a shame that probably more people are watching "who do you think you are" which is as boring as shit!
 
^The first series is 13 episodes, but apparently he's disappointed it's so low, and wants a higher amount so it can play on network TV in the US.
Does the man not know how UK TV works:wtf:
13 is a lot for a uk tv show maybe next time he should to some research before selling his format.

Well, Doctor Who and Torchwood both have 13 episodes a series, so there's at least some precedent for having that much. I agree that more would be a bit high. He'll have to just wait for two seasons.

Although, generally, American audiences don't like British accents all that much since some of them are hard to understand.


I have no idea if Torchwood is a CBC co-production, but doing 13 episodes of Who was probably a concession to the Canadian market.
 
And with the news today that ITV are shedding 600 jobs and making other "significant savings", I daresay Wolf will be disappointed if he's expecting a bigger episode order anytime soon.
 
Yes bad news for ITV and for public broadcasting. The move to more 'entertainment' shows makes me shudder. Not that I watch any ITV. L&OUK was a brief moment of madness, it seems.
 
Does the man not know how UK TV works:wtf:
13 is a lot for a uk tv show maybe next time he should to some research before selling his format.

Well, Doctor Who and Torchwood both have 13 episodes a series, so there's at least some precedent for having that much. I agree that more would be a bit high. He'll have to just wait for two seasons.

Although, generally, American audiences don't like British accents all that much since some of them are hard to understand.


I have no idea if Torchwood is a CBC co-production, but doing 13 episodes of Who was probably a concession to the Canadian market.
I think it was probably a concession to the international market in general. BBC seem to be moving in that direction with a lot of show that they hope to sell internationally.

Given what ITV are doing I expect it to slip in to the "Channels I don't watch" list again. And it was only just getting to the point where it had a few shows I enjoyed as well. I'd be surprised if OFCOM don't give in to some of their demands at this point, to shore them up.
 
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