Rent Criminal Justice (2008 - 2009)
4.0 of 5 from 51 ratings
- General info
- Synopsis:
- Criminal Justice is a British crime drama about a criminal and their journey through the British justice system. Each series follows a different suspect as they are handled by the courts as they try to cope with the way their case has impacted their personal lives. The first series follows Ben Coulter (Ben Whishaw) a man who is charged with murder after a drunken night out even though he doesn’t recall the crime. The series looks at every aspect of the case while exploring Ben’s personal life before and after the crime.
- Actors:
- Maxine Peake, Ben Whishaw, Matthew Macfadyen, Bill Paterson, Con O'Neill, Bob Mercer, Juliet Aubrey, Rupert Procter, Charlie Creed-Miles, Christian Roe, Zoe Telford, Ruth Negga, Adam Deacon, David Westhead, Eddie Marsan, Joe Dixon, Ian Peck, Alice Sykes, Madeleine Rakic-Platt, John Hodgkinson
- Directors:
- Otto Bathurst, Yann Demange, Marc Jobst, Luke Watson
- Producers:
- Steve Lightfoot
- Writers:
- Peter Moffat
- Studio:
- Acorn Media
- Genres:
- British TV, TV Dramas
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Reviews (1) of Criminal Justice
Excellent Crime/Legal Drama with the brilliant Ben Wishaw - Criminal Justice review by PV
This is superb drama - rare for the BBC but then this was 2008,. Now the only decent drama on BBC is bought in from private production companies (Vienna Blood, Peaky Blinders, The Night Manager etc). Most is lazy easy drama for the largely female middle-aged audience (Call the Midwife anyone?)
This would have been 5 stars BUT it sags badly at the end. That last episode (no spoilers) was maybe not necessary, if the penultimate episode were tweaked. THAT is precisely what they did in the US remake THE NIGHT OF (2016), also good with a snappier ending. They cut the flab and it works better.
However, the first 4 episodes are brilliant. Ben Wishaw is brilliant in everything he does and other actors do well too. The late Pete Postlethwaite is superb in one of his last performances; not sure about David Harewood who always seems to play...David Harewood. Michael K Williams in the US version was so much better. Nice to see Southend again as well.
I would say the plot is not realistic. Again maybe the US version is more believable. But hey, it's drama! It can do that if written well, as this is.
Watching series 2 soon but do not expect it to be as good as series 1.
Anyway 4 stars. Decent British crime drama, for once.
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