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Criminal Record is a new 8-part Apple TV+ drama where two long-standing cops will go at loggerheads, if we’re to believe the trailer and the long stares they exchange, but the average TV drama doesn’t always play a straight bat in such circumstances.
The story goes back to a case from 24 years earlier, when Errol Mathis (Tom Moutchi) was convicted for 24 years for killing his girlfriend, Adelaide Burrows, yet a random caller to the cops now reckons it was her boyfriend, instead. But it’s an anonymous tip-off, so they don’t have a lot of concrete information to base this on.
Almost a generation ago, DCI Daniel Hegarty (Peter Capaldi) arrested Mathis, but there’s another name now in the frame, as well as today’s investigative cop, DS June Lenker (Cush Jumbo), basing most of her information on the fact that the caller rang twice. However, after the pair meet up, Hegarty appears a bit care-free about the whole matter, as if it feels like a wild goose chase, so he’s going to do nothing about it.
However, after the two go head-to-head, for some reason, June now can’t log in to her PC at work. Has she been locked out because grumpty Hegarty’s being a dick? And why did she allow a meeting about this with some bigwigs to go ahead, all without giving her the chance of inviting her Union rep to attend. So, that’s bollocks for a start.
Similarly, anyone involved in a job like this where information is highly classified and not to be treated lightly – something which will be drummed into them on a regular basis, for a supposedly with-it cop, June is remarkably stupid, not least for looking up random car registration numbers on the work computer, as if such things don’t get logged. And that’s not her only faux pas.
I’ve seen the first two episodes of Criminal Record, and while the opener is mostly dull, events to hot up towards the end for reasons you’ll see. But with Capaldi chewing scenery in his usual manner, this just feels like fairly basic cops and robbers, except that the latter kill people, and none of it is particularly exciting me. We’re supposed to believe June’s in serious danger, thinking the ex-Doctor is constantly against her, but is she correct or is it just her interpretation of events?
Either way, Criminal Record feels like a game of ‘count the cliché’, and unless I hear that this has become a spectacular series, I’ll bailing out now.
Criminal Record is on Apple TV+ from tomorrow, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. Initially, two episodes are available, and additional episodes will stream weekly.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 50-60 mins per episode
Release date: January 10th 2024 (first 2 episodes, then weekly)
Studio: Apple TV+
Format: 2.00:1
Series Directors: Shaun James Grant, Jim Loach
Producer: Alison Sterling
Writers: Paul Rutman, Ameir Brown
Creator: Paul Rutman
Music: Michael J Asante, Neil Davidge
Cast:
DS June Lenker: Cush Jumbo
DCI Daniel Hegarty: Peter Capaldi
DC Chloe Summers: Dionne Brown
onya Singh: Aysha Kala
DS Kim Cardwell: Shaun Dooley
Errol Mathis: Tom Moutchi
DS Tony Gilfoyle: Charlie Creed-Miles
Leo Hanratty: Stephen Campbell Moore
Jacob: Jordan A Nash
DCI Roy Chambers: Ian Bonar
Maureen: Zoë Wanamaker
Doris Mathis: Cathy Tyson
Latisha: Janet Kumah
Jasmine Peters: Chizzy Akudolu
DI Diana Markham: Carolina Main
ACC Claudia Mayhew: Georgina Rich
DC Jed Stanning: Steffan Cennydd
Clive Silcox: Andrew Brooke
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.