Criminal: UK

Within the walls of an interrogation room, London investigators question suspects accused of grievous crimes until the truth comes to light.

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.

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

• Interrogation (Netflix)shared tense interrogation room psychological cat and mouse, police procedural tone
• Line of Dutyshared British police workplace drama, procedural investigations with morally complicated detectives
• The Killingshared anthology structure where each installment centers on a single crime and its suspects, psychological thriller tone
• Unforgottenshared single-location confined tension and character-driven investigative dialogue

Created by

Jim Field Smith, George Kay

Release Date

2019-09-20

Episode runtime

43 min

Rating

7.7 / 10 (266)

What is Criminal: UK about?

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

What is Criminal: UK like to watch?

Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Criminal: UK as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.

Is Criminal: UK violent?

Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Criminal: UK as mild.

What did critics think of Criminal: UK?

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

Which shows are like Criminal: UK?

Shows with a similar feel include Interrogation (Netflix), Line of Duty, The Killing, and Unforgotten.

How long is Criminal: UK?

Criminal: UK: 2 seasons, 7 episodes.

Is Criminal: UK still running?

No, Criminal: UK was canceled.

Where can I watch Criminal: UK?

In United States, Criminal: UK streams on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads.