''Conviction'' is a British television crime drama that premiered on BBC Three on 7 November 2004. The six-part series stars William Ash,

David Warner David or Dave Warner may refer to: Sports * Dave Warner (strongman) (born 1969), Northern Ireland strongman competitor * David Bruce Warner (born 1970), South African alpine skier * David Warner (cricketer) (born 1986), Australian cricketer Oth ...

, Ian Puleston-Davies,

Reece Dinsdale Reece Dinsdale (born 6 August 1959) is an English actor and director of stage, film and television. He is a Huddersfield Town fan. In 2017 he became a patron of the Square Chapel, an arts centre in Halifax. He is also an honorary patron of The ...

Nicholas Gleaves Nicholas Gleaves (born 2 January 1969) is an English actor and playwright. Career Gleaves's first theatre part was as an extra in ''Don Carlos'' at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. He did several plays there including the lead in ''Mac ...

, Laura Fraser, Jason Watkins and

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. The series was created and was written by Bill Gallagher (previously known for ''

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'' and '' Out of the Blue''), produced by

Red Production Company Red Production Company is a British independent television production company owned by StudioCanal. Background Red Production Company was formed in 1998 by Nicola Shindler, a television producer who had worked on ''Our Friends in the North'' ...

, and directed by Marc Munden (''Vanity Fair'', ''Canterbury Tales: The Knight's Tale''). The producer was Ann Harrison-Baxter (''The Second Coming'', ''The Cops''), with

Nicola Shindler Nicola Shindler (born 8 October 1968) is a British television producer and executive, and founder of the independent television drama production company Quay Street Productions, having founded and run Red Production Company from 1998 to 2020. S ...

and Gareth Neame as executive producers for Red Production Company and the BBC respectively. The storyline was later used as the basis for the movie ''

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'', starring Paul Bettany,

Mark Strong Mark Strong (born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia; 5 August 1963), is a British actor, best known for his film roles such as Prince Septimus in '' Stardust'' (2007), Archibald in ''RocknRolla'' (2008), Lord Henry Blackwood in ''Sherlock Holmes'' (20 ...

and Brian Cox.

Premise

The series is centred on the Fairburn family, all of whom live in an edgy

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

town with a growing tendency towards vigilante justice. All three of the Fairburn siblings are involved with law enforcement: brothers Chrissie ( William Ash) and Ray (

) are police officers, while their sister Beth (

) works as a lawyer. Beth, Chrissie and Ray's widowed father Lenny (

) is a retired police officer who berates the political correctness of his children's modern methods: he himself is fighting a losing battle with

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and struggling to come to terms with the fact that he can no longer be the strong and authoritative head of the family. Ray and Chrissie work as officers in a five-person Criminal Investigation Department team. The other members are the solitary but insightful Robert (

); Lucy ( Laura Fraser), the newest recruit, with a need to prove herself; and the volatile family man Joe ( Ian Puleston-Davies), an 'old school' officer with a barely contained temper and a tendency to both bully Chrissie and clash with the "by-the-book" Ray. The murder of a 12-year-old girl adds to existing tensions and pushes an already angry community towards action and revenge. In this atmosphere, the various policemen involved in the murder investigation begin to take increasingly dangerous steps towards concluding the investigation. The situation becomes even more complicated when Beth becomes the defence lawyer for the principal suspect, Jason Buliegh ( Jason Watkins). As the distinction between right and wrong becomes fatally blurred, two of the officers take things a step too far.

Background

''Conviction'' was described by the BBC as a drama which "explores the notion that everyone has the ability to kill and what it is that can trigger that reaction in any of us ''(using)'' the volatile and dangerous world of the CID as a backdrop to show how a group of very real characters are affected practically, mentally and emotionally by what they have to face on a daily basis. It's also about the resilience and humour of family and friends as they too deal with the psychological fallout." The drama makes multiple uses of flashbacks and fast-forwards, interlinking time and obscuring the line between reality and fantasy. Executive producer Nicola Shindler recalled "Bill came up with a basic idea about an incident involving two policemen which severely affects their life both at work and at home and, from that, we developed the idea about a family who worked in the police station... I think that ''Conviction'' is more of a 'whydunnit' not 'whodunnit' because it looks at people's psyche. It takes apart the idea that there are 'good' and 'evil' people in the world – it shows that things are not as black and white as that." Gallagher commented: "I wanted to write a police drama that I would like to watch. One that would thrill me and disturb me. One that would shake me up and be about subjects that really matter, not just the stories, but the way that the stories are told. I tried to take the characters to places that they wouldn't want to go, were scared to go and to see what happened. I wanted to try and take a daring and confrontational approach. This wasn't me and Marc (Munden, the director) indulging some arty idea but looking for ways to crank up the tension, to delight in the storytelling and keep the thing moving at a real pace. Sometimes we have to hang on for two or three scenes until it adds up, 'till the pieces slot together. But when we get there, it's more fulfilling than having it handed to us on a plate. This series isn't based on any particular crime or case, but on what I feel is in the air, how we react when awful crimes happen. We live in angry times and I wanted to build ''Conviction'' around how people feel, how they react, how they relate and why." Producer Ann Harrison-Baxter commented: "The majority of crime dramas are very black and white, good versus evil, and the police represent good. But life isn't actually like that – it's very grey in all those areas of morality. Bill has taken a genre and a group of characters that are portrayed in a particular way in British drama, and turns it all on its head... ''(The characters)'' are detectives, they work for the police force, but first and foremost they are human beings like you and I and although they are meant to be the upholders of morality and good, they are human and they do have emotions and sometimes those emotions get the better of them."

Cast

* William Ash as D.C. Chrissie Fairburn * Ian Puleston-Davies as D.C. Joe Payne *

as D.C. Robert Seymour * Laura Fraser as D.S. Lucy Romanis *

as D.I. Ray Fairburn *

as Beth Caffrey *

as Lenny Fairburn * Jason Watkins as Jason Bueleigh * Angel Coulby as Gemma Ryan * Linzey Cocker as Miriam Payne * Sarah Kirkman as Lucy Payne *

Sharon Duce Sharon Duce (born 17 January 1950) is a British actress. Born in Sheffield, she trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art then became a stage actress at the Sheffield Repertory Theatre, the York Theatre Royal, and the Theatre in th ...

as Sandra Bueleigh * Jason Done as Sol Draper * Dominique Jackson as Polly Caffrey *

Georgia May Foote Georgia May Foote (born 11 February 1991) is an English actress and model. She is best known for playing Alison Simmons in the BBC school drama series ''Grange Hill'' from 2005 to 2008 and Katy Armstrong in the ITV (TV network), ITV soap opera ...

as Angela Fairley *

Jennifer Hennessy Jennifer Hennessy (born Jennifer Hayes in 1970) is an English actress. She has made numerous television appearances, including as Mrs. Brazendale in the BBC TV series ''Lilies''. Hennessy trained for three years at the Central School of Speech ...

as Judy Fairley

Episode list

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0412107, title=Conviction
''Conviction''
review at DVD Talk 2004 British television series debuts 2004 British television series endings 2000s British drama television series BBC television dramas 2000s British crime television series 2000s British television miniseries Television shows set in Manchester Television series by Red Production Company English-language television shows BBC television miniseries