''Crime'' (also known as ''Irvine Welsh's Crime'') is a British

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

television series, an adaptation of the

Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist and short story writer. His 1993 novel ''Trainspotting (novel), Trainspotting'' was made into a Trainspotting (film), film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, ...

novel of the same name. The 6-episode first series was co-written by Welsh and Dean Cavanagh and broadcast in 2021 on

BritBox BritBox is a British Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Video on demand#Subscription models, video on demand Streaming television, streaming service founded by BBC Studios and ITV plc, ITV which operates in eight countries across Australi ...

, later moved in the UK to be available on

ITVX ITVX is a British Over-the-top media services, over-the-top and ad-supported Streaming television, streaming service operated by ITV plc. The service offers original content from the broadcaster, livestreams of the ITV television channels, Free ...

. It stars

Dougray Scott Stephen Dougray Scott (born 26 November 1965) is a Scottish actor. He has appeared in the films '' Ever After'' (1998), '' Mission: Impossible 2'' (2000), '' Enigma'' (2001), '' Ripley's Game'' (2002), ''Hitman'' (2007), and '' My Week with Mar ...

as the detective Ray Lennox. Scott won an

International Emmy Award The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York City, New York–based International Academy of Televisi ...

and a BAFTA in November 2022 for his performance. A second series began filming in Scotland in 2022 and premiered on 21 September 2023 on ITVX.

Synopsis

DI Ray Lennox (Scott) and DS Drummond (Vanderham) investigate a schoolgirl's abduction.

Cast

Main

Recurring

Episodes

Series overview

Series 1 (2021)

Series 2 (2023)

Production

First series

On 23 July 2020,

announced that

would be adapting Crime as a six-part miniseries for streaming service with

adapting his own book alongside Dean Cavanagh. The series is set in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and filmed there and

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Second series

In October 2022, a second six-part series started filming in Scotland with Welsh and Cavanagh again scripting. Directors for the second series include Trygve Allister Diesen and Anthony Neilson. Production is by Buccaneer and Off Grid Film and TV. Production crews were reported in

's West End, with filming occurring on Horselethill Road and Rosslyn Terrace. Filming continued in Glasgow into November 2022. Scott was quoted as saying "Season 2 takes us even deeper into Lennox's past, and helps us understand his persona even more. I couldn't be happier." Among those returning for series two are

Ken Stott Kenneth Campbell Stott (born 19 October 1954) is a Scottish stage, television and film actor who won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1995 in the play ''Broken Glass (play), Broken Glass'' at Royal National Thea ...

, Joanna Vanderham,

John Simm John Ronald Simm (born 10 July 1970) is an English actor, director, and musician. He is best known for playing Sam Tyler in ''Life on Mars'', the Master in ''Doctor Who,'' and DS Roy Grace in ''Grace.'' His other television credits include '' ...

and

Derek Riddell Derek Riddell (born 11 January 1967) is a Scottish television and theatre actor. He is best known for the portrayal of Richard Cawood in the BBC One television series '' Happy Valley''. He is also known for '' Gentleman Jack'', '' Industry'' ...

Broadcast

The first series premiered on

on 18 November 2021. The second series will be shown in the UK on

with the first series becoming available via ITVX in 2023.

Reception

Critical response

Anita Singh in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' described the performance of Scott as "lifting" the police procedural "out of the ordinary" by delivering "every line with a burning intensity" that still "manages at the same time to convey the character's emotional fragility, and the toll that his job is taking".

Lucy Mangan Lucy Mangan (born 1974) is a British journalist and author. She is a columnist, features writer and TV critic for ''The Guardian'' and an opinion writer for '' i'' news. Early life and education Mangan was born in 1974 and grew up in Catford, ...

in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' was less effusive, but said that Welsh "pushed the limits of what we normally see from the troubled detective at the centre of such shows". Carol Midgely in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' said "I thought it was terrific, give or take the odd daft scene" and "few writers could write about such horror and still make it funny".

Accolades

Scott was nominated at the

International Emmy Awards The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sc ...

for his performance. Scott won the

International Emmy Award for Best Actor The International Emmy Award for Best Performance by an Actor is an award presented by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (IATAS) dedicated to for male performance from a program originally created for television. Rules and ...

in November 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crime BritBox original programming British English-language television shows 2021 British television series debuts 2020s British crime drama television series