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Criminal: UK
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Crime · 2019

Criminal: UK

British interrogation-room anthology where detectives break suspects in 41-48 minute stand-offs.

Starring Lee Ingleby· Katherine Kelly· Rochenda Sandall
Overview

The camera never leaves the steel-grey interrogation suite of London’s Metropolitan Police as Katherine Kelly’s frosty DCI Natalie Hobbs and her five-officer team run a twelve-hour clock on murder, rape and trafficking cases. Each 41-48 minute episode is a two-hander between police and suspect, played out in real time with no flashbacks, no car chases, just the slow tightening of psychological screws. Netflix dropped the first three stories on 20 September 2019 and added four more on 16 September 2020, all filmed at Secuoya Studios Madrid (series 1) and Shepperton Studios (series 2) alongside matching French, Spanish and German editions.

Guest stars supply the fireworks: David Tennant’s doctor denies raping and killing his stepdaughter, Hayley Atwell’s career criminal spits blood at accusations she stabbed her sister’s boyfriend, Kunal Nayyar’s convicted killer toys with police over a new corpse, and Sophie Okonedo’s stone-faced wife shields her husband’s secrets. The regulars carry the emotional load; Lee Ingleby’s quietly smitten DI Tony Myerscough, Mark Stanley’s jittery DC Hugo Duffy hiding vodka in a paper cup, Rochenda Sandall’s sardonic DC Vanessa Warren counting down to early retirement.

Created by George Kay and Jim Field Smith, the show was cancelled after seven episodes, picking up two 2021 Bafta nominations for supporting performances by Nayyar and Okonedo. Rotten Tomatoes logged 85% positive reviews, praising the suffocating single-location tension that turns a police interview into high-stakes theatre.

Production Details

Netflix / 2 Seasons / 7 Episodes / 2019 - Present

Created by: Jim Field Smith, George Kay

Writer(s): George Kay

Producer(s): Georgie Fallon

Cinematography: Jamie Cairney

Main Cast

Lee Ingleby as Tony Myerscough

Katherine Kelly as Natalie Hobbs

Rochenda Sandall as Vanessa Warren

Shubham Saraf as Kyle Petit

Mark Stanley as Hugo Duffy

Nicholas Pinnock as Paul Ottager

Aymen Hamdouchi as Jamie Reiss

David Tennant as Dr. Edgar Fallon

Hayley Atwell as Stacey Doyle

Youssef Kerkour as Jay Muthassim

Lolita Chakrabarti as Anita Baines

Mark Quartley as Jeremy Nicholson

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Kip Ford
Kip Ford
TV Critic & Editorial Director
Kip Ford is Editorial Director at TV Reference. His encyclopedic knowledge spans every era of television history, with particular expertise in British and American drama, crime, and the golden age of network TV.