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''Criminal Justice'' is a British television drama series produced by the

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and first shown in 2008. Written by

Peter Moffat Alexander Peter Moffat (born 2 June 1962) is a British playwright and screenwriter. Early life Moffat was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, to John Laidlaw Moffat, who was in the Royal Military Police, and Norma Guthrie. His grandfather and great- ...

, each five-episode series follows the journey of an individual through the justice system and was first broadcast over five successive nights on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

. The first series, first shown in 2008, starred

Ben Whishaw Benjamin John Whishaw (born 14 October 1980) is an English actor and producer. After winning a British Independent Film Award for his performance in ''My Brother Tom'' (2001), he was nominated for an Olivier Award for his portrayal of the titl ...

as Ben Coulter, a young man who is accused of murder after a drunken and drug-filled night out, though is unable to remember committing the crime. It was directed by

Otto Bathurst Otto Benjamin Charles Bathurst (born 18 January 1971) is a British television and film director. In 2014, he won a BAFTA for his work on BBC drama ''Peaky Blinders''. He was also previously BAFTA nominated for his work on BBC series ''Crimina ...

and Luke Watson. In 2009, the second series featured

Maxine Peake Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in the BBC One sitcom ''dinnerladies'' (1998–2000), Veronica Ball in the hit Channel 4 comedy drama '' Shameless'' (2004–2007), Marth ...

as troubled housewife Juliet Miller whose husband was stabbed in their bed.

Yann Demange Yann Demange (born 1977) is a French film director of French and Algerian parents, who grew up in London. After directing the well-received television series ''Dead Set'' (2008) and ''Top Boy'' (2011), he made his directorial film debut with the cr ...

and Marc Jobst directed the second series. The first series won two

British Academy Television Awards The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the BAFTA. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in 1955, consisted of six categories. Until ...

for Best Drama Serial and Best Writer, three

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

Awards and an

International Emmy The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sc ...

. The first season has been re-made into an

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

The Night Of ''The Night Of'' is a 2016 American eight-part crime drama television miniseries based on the first season of ''Criminal Justice'', a 2008 British series. The miniseries was written by Richard Price and Steven Zaillian (based on the original ''C ...

'', starring

John Turturro John Michael Turturro (; born February 28, 1957) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his contributions to the independent film movement. He has appeared in over sixty feature films and has worked frequently with the Coen brothers, ...

and

Riz Ahmed Rizwan Ahmed (; ; born ) is a British actor and rapper. As an actor, he has won an Emmy Award and has received nominations for a Golden Globe and three British Independent Film Awards, and as a rapper he has won an Academy Award for the short ...

Series one

The first series was composed of five episodes, which were broadcast nightly from 30 June to 4 July 2008 on

. The first series starred

as Ben Coulter, a young man who is accused of murder after a drunken and drug-filled night out, though is unable to remember committing the crime. As well as Whishaw, the show starred

Pete Postlethwaite Peter William Postlethwaite, (7 February 1946 – 2 January 2011) was an English character actor. After minor television appearances, including in '' The Professionals'', his first major success arose through the British autobiographical film ...

, Con O'Neill,

Lindsay Duncan Lindsay Vere Duncan (born 7 November 1950) is a Scottish actress. On stage, she has won two Olivier Awards (for ''Les Liaisons Dangereuses'' and ''Private Lives'') and a Tony Award (for ''Private Lives''). She has starred in several plays by H ...

David Westhead David William Logan Westhead (born 1 June 1963) is an English actor. Early life Westhead was born in Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely, Cambridgeshire. He studied drama at University of Bristol, Bristol University before going on to Royal Academy of ...

Ruth Negga Ruth Negga ( ; born 7 January 1981) is an Ethiopian-Irish actress known for the AMC television series ''Preacher'' and the film '' Loving''. For her portrayal of Mildred Loving in the latter, Negga received several major nominations from the Ac ...

and Bill Paterson.

Overview

Ben Coulter takes his parents' black cab out for the night. At a traffic light, a young woman gets into the cab. Despite telling her he does not take fares, she insists on going to the seaside. While there, she offers Ben ecstasy, which he accepts. The pair go back to her house, and after sleeping together, Ben awakes downstairs, seeing a knife on the table at which he was sleeping. He goes upstairs to find the girl dead, with a stab wound to the chest. Police stop Ben after he crashes the taxi in shock. They later find he matches a description given by a neighbour, who saw Ben break into the girl's house to wipe his DNA off the house. They also find a knife in Ben's pocket. He is arrested on suspicion of murder. He is later charged and refused bail. Ben spends his first day in prison. He seeks protection after being beaten up by Milroy, a feared jailbird. In return for being protected, Ben must smuggle an item past the prison guard. He also re-employs his former lawyer. This episode sees the first appearance of

Vineeta Rishi Vineeta Rishi, is an English actress, known for playing Jas Khella in the BBC One soap opera ''Doctors (2000 TV series), Doctors''. Born in Bracknell, Berkshire to Indian parents, Rishi grew up in Walkergate, Newcastle upon Tyne where she attende ...

as Frances Kapoor, who becomes his new barrister. He shares his cell mostly with Hooch, who has the status of "Listener" in the prison. His advice and support to Ben are marred by his own limitations and ties. Finally he makes the sacrifice to open the path to Ben's release and his own absolution. Ben's expensive new barrister persuades him to plead self-defence despite his misgivings, he then takes to the witness box before returning to prison and getting into a brawl. Ben's

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

, Frances Kapoor, appears to be the only person who believes Ben's pleas of innocence and so tries to free him. However, Ben's solicitor persuades him to appeal on the grounds of inappropriate relationship with his (female) barrister, therefore perhaps ruining Frances' career as a barrister. Ben is freed when

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

evidence is eventually released, of a man who committed another murder in the area on the same night, chasing the girl Ben is accused of killing. He also got help from Hooch who demanded the name of the real murderer from another prisoner. Ben wants to withdraw the chamber's inquiry against Frances, but his solicitor says it is too late, as the ball was already rolling, and Ben should get on with his life.

Cast and crew

The series was written by Peter Moffat, and produced by Pier Wilkie.

directed the first three episodes, with Luke Watson directing the final two.

Ratings

Reception

The first series was generally praised by critics, ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...

'' calling it "nerve-shreddingly exciting". However, the series received complaints from lawyers and solicitors over the way they were portrayed over the five episodes – the character of Stone (played by Con O'Neill) being particularly controversial for his attitude, saying that, in the criminal justice system, "the truth can go to hell".

Series two

A second series of the drama was commissioned by the

...
and was broadcast from 5–9 October 2009 as part of the BBC's autumn drama line-up. It returned with another five episodes, starring

as Juliet Miller. The series follows Juliet as she struggles to lead a normal life and, after stabbing her abusive husband, following her trail through the criminal justice system. Matthew Macfadyen plays Joe, a barrister at the height of his professional powers. He is married to Juliet who is fragile and isolated at home. They have one daughter, 13-year-old Ella, played by Alice Sykes. Other cast members include

Sophie Okonedo Sophie Okonedo (born 11 August 1968) is a British actress and narrator. The recipient of a Tony Award, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, three BAFTA Television Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. She began her f ...

Denis Lawson Denis Stamper Lawson (born 27 September 1947) is a Scottish actor and director. He is known for his roles as John Jarndyce in the BBC's adaptation of ''Bleak House (2005 TV serial), Bleak House'', as Gordon Urquhart in the film ''Local Hero (f ...

Steven MacKintosh Steven Mackintosh (born 30 April 1967) is an English actor and narrator. He is perhaps best known for his role as Andreas Tanis in the action horror films '' Underworld: Evolution'' (2006) and '' Underworld: Rise of the Lycans'' (2009). Mack ...

Eddie Marsan Edward Maurice Charles Marsan (born 9 June 1968) is an English actor. He won the London Film Critics Circle Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film '' Happy-Go-Lucky'' (2008). He has feature ...

Zoe Telford Zoe Telford is an English actress. Early life and education Telford was born in Norwich, England. She started training as a dancer at a very young age and continued until she was in her 20s. She attended the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Art ...

and

Kate Hardie Kate Hardie (born Kate Louise Oddie; 26 April 1968) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles in '' The Krays'', ''Mona Lisa'' and the 2016 Channel 4 original series ''National Treasure''. Hardie's stage name is derived from those ...

Overview

Juliet prepares for her husband, Joe's, return from work. He arrives with flowers and greets wife and daughter but both seem jumpy. Unsettling clues as to what might be going on are revealed and that night, Juliet stabs Joe. She calls the emergency services but leaves the house and her daughter finds Joe seriously injured and removes the knife, before being instructed not to. The police and paramedics take Joe to hospital and Ella is taken to the police station. Juliet eventually arrives at the hospital where Joe is in intensive care, and is arrested. While in custody, she behaves abnormally, leading her solicitor to question her mental state, but she admits stabbing Joe in a second interview, without her solicitor. Juliet's solicitor asks that Juliet be released on bail but this is refused due to fears of her absconding or attempting contact with Ella and/or Joe. Ella goes into emergency care but soon moves in with her best friend's family, suffering nightmares about the way she found Joe. She visits Juliet in prison but the visit only makes matters worse, thanks to Juliet's lack of remorse. Her solicitor tries to get Juliet to talk about her and Joe's marriage but get nowhere so her legal team try prompting her. They question if she was raped but that is revealed not to be the case and that she is pregnant. Only after Juliet gives birth to her second daughter amid fears of separation does she open up about her marriage. Joe's condition, meanwhile, worsens and he dies in hospital. Juliet is charged with murder but pleads not guilty, due to provocation. She is found not guilty after revealing the domestic abuse she suffered at Joe's hands but does, however, plead guilty to manslaughter.

Cast and crew

Peter Moffat wrote the series, with Steve Lightfoot producing. Yann Demange directed the first three episodes, with Marc Jobst directing the final two.

Ratings

Reception

The second series also garnered a positive reception from critics. John Preston of ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' praised the first episode for successfully ratcheting up the tension with "Hitchcockian precision", and how writer Peter Moffat allowed "the weight of the character's dilemmas to drive the narrative forward". He also acclaimed Maxine Peake's performance as a "marvel". In ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' Brian Viner hailed the serial as a "well written" and "superbly acted" drama, and noted Moffat's script as "particularly clever" in how it "manipulated udiencesympathies".

Awards and nominations

Series One *

2008 **Won Best Drama Serial **Won Best Writer – Peter Moffat **Nominated Best Actor – Ben Whishaw **Nominated Best Director (Fiction/Entertainment) – Otto Bathurst **Nominated Best Editing (Fiction/Entertainment) – Sarah Brewerton *

International Emmy Awards The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sci ...

2009 **Won Best Performance by an Actor – Ben Whishaw *

Awards 2008 **Won Best Actor (Male) – Ben Whishaw **Won Best Music (Original Score) –

John Lunn John Lunn (born 13 May 1956) is an Emmy Award winning Scottish composer, known for the music of the series ''Downton Abbey'' and many other television and movie soundtracks. Early life and education Lunn was born in May 1956. His father was a ...

**Won Best Tape & Film Editing (Drama) – Sarah Brewerton **Nominated Best Drama Serial **Nominated Best Writer – Peter Moffat **Nominated Best Sound (Drama) – Billy Quinn Series Two *

2009 **Won Supporting Actor – Matthew MacFadyen

DVD releases

The first series of Criminal Justice is available on DVD. Series Two was released on 28 December 2009. Both titles are distributed by

Acorn Media UK RLJE International Ltd, d/b/a Acorn DVD, a British company that publishes and distributes DVDs, as well as selling home-video products and streaming videos with a particular focus on British television. History Launched in 1997, Acorn Media U. ...

International adaptations

American adaptation

An eight-episode

produced by

debuted on 10 July 2016. In the adaptation,

portrays New York City lawyer John Stone, and the Pakistani-American murder suspect is played by

Indian adaptation

An Indian series based on Criminal Justice was released on

Hotstar Specials Disney+ Hotstar (also known as Hotstar) is an Indian brand of subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Novi Digital Entertainment of Disney Star and operated by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, both d ...

on 5 April 2019. It is directed by

Tigmanshu Dhulia Tigmanshu Dhulia (born 3 July 1967) is an Indian film dialogue writer, director, actor, screenwriter, producer and casting director known for his works in Hindi cinema and Television. He wrote the dialogue for the 1998 film '' Dil Se..'', the f ...

and Vishal Furia starring

Jackie Shroff Jaikishan Kakubhai Shroff (born 1 February 1957), popularly known as Jackie Shroff, is an Indian actor and former model. He has been in the Bollywood industry for over four decades, and , has appeared in over 220 films in 13 languages namely Hi ...

Pankaj Tripathi Pankaj Tripathi (Birth name, né Tiwari; born 5 September 1976) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema and has also appeared in Telugu cinema, Telugu and Tamil cinema, Tamil language films. Tripathi has established himself as one of the n ...

Vikrant Massey Vikrant Massey is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi television, Hindi films and web series. He made his acting debut with the role of Aamir Hassan in ''Dhoom Machaao Dhoom'' and became a household name with his roles of Dharam in '' Dharam V ...

Anupriya Goenka Anupria Goenka (born 29 May 1987) is an Indian actress and model who appears in Hindi and Telugu films. She first shot to fame in 2013 as the face of UPA government's ''Bharat Nirman''. Goenka made her on-screen debut with the 2013 Telugu film ...

and Mita Vashist in lead roles. Background Score given by

Sameer Phaterpekar Sameer Phaterpekar is an Indian composer who composes music for Hindi films. Life and early career Sameer Phaterpekar started his career in the Indian film music Industry as a musician in 1982. During the golden era of live recordings he got ...

. The official trailer of the series was launched by

on 28 March 2019. The description accompanying the trailer reads, “A one night stand turns into a nightmare for Aditya when he wakes up with blood on his hands."

South Korean adaptation

On January 5, 2021, it was announced that Studio M,

Chorokbaem Media Chorokbaem Media () is a Korean drama and animation production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, telev ...

and

Gold Medalist A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

will co-produce a South Korean adaptation of ''Criminal Justice''.

Kim Soo-hyun Kim Soo-hyun (; born February 16, 1988) is a South Korean actor. One of the highest-paid actors in South Korea, his accolades include four Baeksang Arts Awards, two Grand Bell Awards and one Blue Dragon Film Award. From 2012 to 2016 and in ...

and

Cha Seung-won Cha Seung-won (born June 7, 1970) is a South Korean actor, who began his career as an in-demand fashion model in the 1990s. Cha achieved stardom through the hit comedy films ''Kick the Moon'' (2001), ''Jail Breakers'' (2002), '' My Teacher, Mr. ...

are set to star, Kwon Soon-kyu will write the project, and

Lee Myung-woo Lee Myung-woo () is a South Korean television director best known for his works on Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) television series, ''Punch'' (2014–2015), ''The Fiery Priest'' (2019) and ''Backstreet Rookie'' (2020). In January 2021, he estab ...

will direct.

BBC Studios BBC Studios is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Worldwide. ...

confirmed the adaptation on January 13, through its media centre. The series premiered on

Coupang Play Coupang ( ko, 쿠팡) is a South Korean e-commerce company based in Seoul, South Korea, and incorporated in Delaware, United States. Founded in 2010 by Bom Kim, the company expanded to become the largest online marketplace in South Korea. I ...

on 27 November 2021 in South Korea and in other Asian markets on Viu.

French adaptation

A six-episode adaptation titled ''Une Si Longue Nuit'' (literally ''A Really Long Night'') starring among others

Mathilde Seigner Mathilde Seigner (born 17 January 1968) is a French actress. Early life Seigner was born in Paris. She is the granddaughter of actor Louis Seigner (1903–1991). She is the sister of Emmanuelle Seigner and a niece of Françoise Seigner. Ca ...

and

Jean-Pierre Darroussin Jean-Pierre Darroussin (born 4 December 1953) is a French actor and filmmaker. He was born in Courbevoie, France. Theater Filmography Actor *1992: '' Riens du tout'' (directed by Cédric Klapisch starring Fabrice Luchini, Daniel Berlioux) ...

was released on French streaming service Salto on 20 December 2021, preceding a TV broadcast on

La Une La Une () is a Belgian national television channel, owned and operated by the French-language public-service broadcasting organization RTBF. La Une is the equivalent of Flemish station Eén, of the Flemish broadcaster VRT. History INR Expe ...

in Belgium starting on 2 January 2022 and on TF1 in France starting on 20 January 2022.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Criminal Justice (Tv Series) 2000s British drama television series 2000s British legal television series 2008 British television series debuts 2009 British television series endings BBC television dramas BBC high definition shows 2000s British crime television series BAFTA winners (television series) English-language television shows Television shows set in the United Kingdom 2000s prison television series Television series by BBC Studios