Law & Order: UK - Conception

Conception

Law & Order: UK was first imagined by franchise creator Dick Wolf in 2000, however, at the time, no network was willing to pick up a pilot for the series. However, Wolf managed to attract scriptwriter Chris Chibnall, who had previously worked on Torchwood, Life on Mars and Born and Bred, to write a series of thirteen adaptions from the original Law & Order series. Wolf then asked Chibnall to look through the Law & Order Bible, a book released in the United States containing a collection of synopses for every episode. As such, he picked 13 episodes which could be adapted for British television, watched the originals on DVD, and then wrote the adaptations to accommodate contractual requirements with production company Kudos, and to build on the show's reputation of successful storytelling. Subsequently, the series was picked up by ITV. One of the episodes Chibnall adapted, however, had to be scrapped due to incompatibility with English Law, resulting in a different episode being adapted. Wolf then attracted producer Richard Stokes to the series, however, he stated that a thirteen-episode series would be too long for broadcast on British television, and thus, he separated the thirteen scripts into two separate series. Dick Wolf, however, objected to this, claiming that it wouldn't be an issue, as each series in the United States contains 22 episodes per series. Wolf pushed ITV for more episodes per series, however, his attempt was unsuccessful. Each of the thirteen scripts were updated for contemporariness, and while the difficulties of adapting the scripts for the English legal system exceeded the expectations of the production team, Stokes opined that audiences familiar with both shows would enjoy them for their distinctions. Further series have continued to adapt scripts from the original Law & Order series. Many of the familiar hallmarks of the original Law & Order series were carried through into the adaptation, including the styling of the opening music, black-and-white intertitles, using Wolf's signature "clanging cell door" sound, and hand-held camera work. Stokes later expressed his praise for the Kudos' method of "guerrilla filming" on the streets of London. Wolf later described the biggest difference between the two series as the wigs, claiming, "The law is not really that dissimilar and, you know, murder is murder."