# Criminal: UK (2019)

> Each episode traps a London crime suspect in an interrogation room where investigators must pry the truth from their carefully constructed stories.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/78636

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 7
- Episode runtime: 43 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: crime, drama, thriller
- Created by: Jim Field Smith, George Kay
- Network: Netflix
- Cast: Mark Stanley, Lee Ingleby, Katherine Kelly, Nicholas Pinnock, Rochenda Sandall, Shubham Saraf, David Tennant, Hayley Atwell
- TMDB rating: 7.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9348692/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: tense, claustrophobic, psychological, harrowing, clinical

## What critics say

Audiences broadly rate the series positively for its tense, dialogue-driven interrogation format and strong ensemble performances.

## Synopsis

Criminal: UK (2019-2020) is a British crime anthology series created by Jim Field Smith and George Kay, produced by Idiotlamp Productions and released on Netflix. Each self-contained story is set almost entirely within a bare London police interrogation room, where investigators question suspects accused of grievous crimes. Detective Hugo Duffy (Mark Stanley) and his colleagues, including Natalie Hobbs (Katherine Kelly), Tony Myerscough (Lee Ingleby), and Vanessa Warren (Rochenda Sandall), work their interviews like a chess match, probing every contradiction until a carefully built alibi or confession begins to crack. The engine of each episode is simple and gripping: a suspect with a story to protect, a team that must find the lie, and a clock ticking in the background. Across two seasons and seven episodes, the show trades sprawling set pieces for dialogue, silence, and psychological pressure. Its tone is tense, clinical, and often harrowing, with a grim London atmosphere and moments of raw human cruelty. Fans of Line of Duty, The Killing, and Interrogation will find resonance in its procedural rigor and moral ambiguity. The format rewards close attention and suits viewers who enjoy a puzzle-box thriller where the real drama lies in what people say and what they hide.

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- [Criminal Record (2024)](https://ember.film/tv/127316)
- [New Blood (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/58684)
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- [Accused (2010)](https://ember.film/tv/30313)
- [Showtrial (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/113688)
- [Criminal: Germany (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/79405)

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