Glance at the filmography of most acclaimed actors and you’re likely to see the odd stint as a TV detective. Stars of a certain vintage tend to have done their time frowning in front of a whiteboard covered in red string and rummaging through old case files while drinking whiskey. It’s practically a form of National Service at this point. But over the course of a 40-year career in acting, Peter Capaldi has never played a cop – until now.
His turn in Apple TV+’s Criminal Record feels worth the wait, though, and it’s only elevated by an equally impressive performance from Cush Jumbo that matches his intensity exactly; when the two of them face off, it’s hard not to hold your breath. In another, cosier police procedural, this pairing might have ended up as an “odd couple” detective duo, with Jumbo’s young, principled sergeant teaching Capaldi’s gruff chief inspector a thing or two about the modern world, and him imparting a few nuggets of old-school wisdom in return. But this eight-part thriller, created by Indian Summers writer Paul Rutman, is definitely not that show: it’s much nastier and, therefore, much more realistic.
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