Job by Marc Larcher September 26, 2022
It’s the best of equations: a tortured cop must stop a serial killer even crazier than him. For Crime (POLAR+), his first series, writer Irvine Welsh pulls off a masterstroke.
The return of the creator of Trainspotting
“There are monsters on every street corner and under every bed” said the hero. With the aptly named Crimethe Scottish writer Irvine Welsh, the author of the best-selling Trainspotting, made a remarkable entry into the world of series. Having become a showrunner, he offers Polar + viewers a dive into the underworld of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.
A crime, a cop, a serial killer
By adapting one of his novels, the novelist offers actor Dougray Scott (Mission impossible 2, My week with Marylin) the role of his life: that of Captain Ray Lennox, a tortured antihero, investigating the disappearance of a child and who will have to face a formidable serial killer. On the way to college, young Britney Hamil disappears. Lennox, a taciturn cop and badly in his skin, working in the Serious Crimes squad, sees himself entrusting the investigation with his colleague Amanda Drummond. However, this case brings back to him a trauma from the past and fuels his hatred of perverts, whoever they are. By examining the first clues, Lennox is convinced that Britney has been kidnapped by a serial killer, known as the “Confectioner”. It should be noted that the suspect in question was however arrested and imprisoned years ago. Of course, Britney’s lifeless body is found, Lennox feels guilty and he begins to lose his footing. Already, he must face his hierarchy who does not wish to stir up old business and encourages Lennox and Drummond to explore existing leads. Lennox does not care, he arrests on his own initiative an influential politician, Richie Gulliver, for “complicity in murder”. In his eyes, this notable protects a certain McCornell with whom he maintains sadomasochistic relations. Ray Lennox advances on a ground all the more slippery that a scandal of sexual harassment bursts and that it plunges once more in alcohol and cocaine.
So much for the beginning of the six episodes of this series which shows a cop in the rough state that his own job and his past make sick. It’s brutal – one of the characters dares to affirm “Do not protect the weak, devour them” – believable and exciting. With Irvine Welsh, we don’t take gloves and that’s why we love his punchy stories.
Ray Lennox alongside Britain’s greatest cops
In the space of one season, the cop Ray Lennox imposes himself in the already well-stocked gallery of masterful British police officers alongside Luther, another borderline investigator embodied in the series of the same name by Idris Elba, the faux-calm David holding in Broadchurchof the mysterious Gillian Anderson in The Fall, and the indestructible Inspector Barnaby. In other words, in the UK criminals are really well guarded.
Discover Crime on POLAR+, available with CANAL+