Criminal Record

Available on Apple TV

This eight-part crime procedural does not instantly feel like a natural fit for the big budget world of Apple TV. Its creator, Paul Rutman, is best known for his work on Vera, ITV’s modest and long-running whodunit, and several episodes are directed by Ken Loach’s son Jim. However, Criminal Record thrives because of these points of difference and two outstanding lead performances from Cush Jumbo and Peter Capaldi.

Jumbo and Capaldi play opposing detectives who are pitted against one another when the former begins investigating an old murder case. Although their dynamic and the overall structure of Rutman’s show is nothing out of the ordinary, the vim and vigour that Jumbo brings to her role, especially when contrasted with the quiet menace of Capaldi’s work, keeps this show interesting to the last.

Criminal Record also feels like a timely examination of the corruption and institutional racism that has long blighted many aspects of Britain’s police force, doing so with enough subtlety to task its audience with questioning problematic everyday behaviours that would more often than not go unchallenged. Rutman is a skilled writer and the dialogue of this show always feels authentic, even when its events intermittently stray beyond the believable.

With a second season already commissioned, Criminal Record has shown, along with Slow Horses, that Apple can do gritty as well as they do glitz.