Watch TV with Paul Flynn
CRIMINAL IS PLACED IN the knowingly theatrical confines of one set: a police interrogation room. The space is lit like a nightclub and overlooked by a woman with a slick bob who used to be Becky Granger in Coronation Street. Katherine Kelly is virtually unrecognisable in her highest-profile gig since waving ta-ta to Steve Mcdonald on the cobbles. As chief interrogating officer of a small unit of five, she flexes her full instinctive muscle to incriminate three separate cases while insisting on being addressed as ‘Ma’am’. She’s come a long way, baby.
Each episode is titled after the charge.
In a bold opening set-piece, David Tennant plays a doctor accused of sexually abusing and murdering his 14-year-old stepdaughter while on a pitstop of her netball tour. The dialogue is nerve-jangling as he refuses to give anything away, answering ‘no comment’ for half the story. The quiet confidence of the ruse allows us to get to know a little of Natalie (Kelly) and her team. There is Hugo (drink problem), Paul (who she’s a bit in love with), Tony (who’s a bit in love with her) and Vanessa (not much, tbh), played by Rochenda Sandall, an actor you’ll recognise straight away from her drug overlord role in this year’s Line Of Duty.
Criminal reminded me a little in its framing of Crown Court, a dinner time must-see whenever I skipped school, which took viewers into the courtroom, allowing a rolling sequence of cases to play out to sentencing. Criminal’s claustrophobia distinguishes it. Winding up each interrogation after 45 minutes can feel a bit convenient, leaving the actors to do all the heavy lifting. Tennant is amazing and Kelly, a slow-burning star. But things start to unfold in the second episode when Hayley Atwell is cast against type as a housing estate Londoner with dip-dyed hair, shell suit and a ratpoisoning accusation to talk her way out of.
By the end of episode three there is a blank resolve of sorts to the romantic intrigue going on among our interrogators. Then Netflix’s grand, peacock-feather budgets begin to fully plume and we get nine more investigations, three each in Spanish, German and Italian. One suspects local viewers will find the three in their own language a satisfying enough dip into this brave and sometimes slightly too high concept drama. Netflix, from Friday