The year may only be one week old, but Apple TV+ might have a place on best of 2024 lists already with its gripping London crime thriller Criminal Record.
Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo are fantastic as rival detectives fighting to (respectively) suppress and reveal the truth in a tight, taut show that has more than a foot in reality.
Promoted by Capaldi (also a co-producer) as a comment on the state of play within the troubled Met Police, the fictitious cops in Criminal Record are working within an organisation dogged with the sexism, racism and misogyny felt by the real force.
But this goes further than putting a mirror to the force and its well-reported problems. The drama will suck audiences in right away and leave a sense of disgust, but also hope, for the officers behind the badge.
And it all comes together – not least because of Jumbo's extraordinary performance – to create something quite brilliant.
The eight-part series begins in Hackney. A woman calls 999 from a phone booth (apparently one of the few still working) with a domestic abuse case. For the police officer on the line, it's just another day in the office – that is until the caller starts frantically making claims that question the legitimacy of a 2012 murder conviction, a crime which might just be the tip of an iceburg of malpractice.
Jumbo plays sprightly Detective Sergeant June Lenker, who is requisitioned to start figuring out if there's any substance to those claims of malpractice, putting her on a collision course with higher-ups who have an interest in making sure the file stays closed.
Though it was apparently tied up years ago and killer Errol Mathis (an understated, despairing Tom Moutchi) is locked away in prison, Lenker’s probing leads her to the chillingly polite Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Hegarty (Capaldi, eyebrows working overtime).
As the doors start slamming, and with the help of community lawyer Sonya Singh (Aysha Kala), she realises she might only be scratching the surface of a local police service that’s deeply rotten.
While that might sound clichéd, Criminal Record is not your run-of-the-mill London crime drama and that is in part thanks to the left turns made in the script from creator Paul Rutman, who has form for destictive shows such as Vera and Lewis.
The Tower director Jim Loach takes care to show a different side to the London that is normally seen in glossy crime dramas, presenting Hackney in its colourful and vibrant glory. The murky underbelly of gangs and crime is here but not popping up under grey underpasses seen in two dimensional dramas.
Ultimately, the show is anchored by two stellar lead performances. Jumbo, who starred in The Good Wife, creates an understanding, passionate, naive character who's never anything but gripping to watch.
Capaldi has fewer scenes and, in contrast to his screaming Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It, his scratchy voice barely rises above a whisper. His character chooses his words carefully and delivers them with enough menace to make his DCI Hegarty just as memorable a turn as his portrayal of Doctor Who.
And the tastiest scenes are when the pair go head to head – what starts as grudgingly polite and respectful, as they circle each other, suddently isn't, and it's thrilling to watch. It's two inspectors, the young upstart versus the grizzled veteran, facing off with the subtext of different ages, races and genders never far from the narrative – and its electric. The suspense and intrigue is closer perhaps to internal affairs films like The Departed than the clearer cut BBC drama Wolf.
Londoners might enjoy Criminal Record for its shots of Dalston Kingsland and Shoreditch High Street alone, but even for non-locals, there's plenty to enjoy here. The series succeeds in giving viewers an introduction to multiple problems facing the Met while also delivering a thrilling storyline that will leave you sucked into the action – less than a fortnight into 2024 and this is already looking like it could be one of the dramas of the year.
