‘Criminal Record’ Season 2 Escalates with Terror, Lies and Far-Right Extremism | EUR Exclusive
*When “Criminal Record” returns for its second season on Apple TV+, the critically acclaimed crime thriller trades a cold case investigation for something far more urgent. Executive producer Elaine Collins says the shift from season one’s slow-burn pacing to a more propulsive storyline was less a calculated decision than an organic result of the story […] The post ‘Criminal Record’ Season 2 Escalates with Terror, Lies and Far-Right Extremism | EUR Exclusive appeared first on EURweb | Black News, Culture, Entertainment & More.
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*When “Criminal Record” returns for its second season on Apple TV+, the critically acclaimed crime thriller trades a cold case investigation for something far more urgent. Executive producer Elaine Collins says the shift from season one’s slow-burn pacing to a more propulsive storyline was less a calculated decision than an organic result of the story itself.
The eight-episode season reunites Academy Award and BAFTA winner Peter Capaldi as Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Hegarty and Laurence Olivier Award and Critics Choice Award nominee Cush Jumbo as Detective Sergeant June Lenker. When a young man is stabbed at a political rally, the two rival officers are pulled into an uneasy alliance that quickly escalates from a murder investigation into an undercover operation to stop a far-right bomb plot in London.
The intellectual seeds for the season were planted when writer Paul Rutman picked up Naomi Klein’s book “Doppelganger.” “Paul read Naomi Klein’s book, Doppelganger, and then we all read it,” Collins said. “And so we all became very fascinated with the idea of this sort of mirror world and all the lies being sent out into the world by people who were very well aware that it isn’t the truth, and how confusing and difficult that’s made all of our lives.”
That thematic obsession with manufactured falsehood runs deeper than it did in season one, Collins explained. “In season one, it does talk a lot about truth, but it’s kind of like old school truth,” she said. “You know, back when a lie was a lie, and the truth was the truth.” Season two, she noted, operates in a more contemporary and troubling space — “the dissemination of falsehoods deliberately to confuse voters, etc., to put your thumb on the scale.”
Central to the season is the evolving dynamic between Hegarty and Lenker. Collins has long believed the two characters share more common ground than they acknowledge. “I’ve always felt since the beginning that they are more alike than they are different,” she said, adding that Hegarty’s cynicism is the product of a profession that makes idealism hard to sustain.
“We wanted to keep evolving the relationship… It’s never going to turn into a buddy cop drama, but you know, you can’t just play the same thing over and over again or it’s boring for the audience,” Collins added.
When it came to depicting the far-right threat at the center of the plot, Collins said the creative team was deliberate about avoiding easy or obvious portrayals. “We wanted it to be about the world of influences,” she said, “and make it… less sort of thuggish far right and more the sort of reality of how the truth is being shaped in an online world.” Real-world events added an unexpected dimension to the process. “While we were shooting,” Collins noted, “we had the riots.”
For returning viewers, Collins says the shift in tone may be the season’s most noticeable quality. “The energy and the propulsion in the show is different from season one,” she said, describing the response as one of pleasant surprise. “It feels like in a sort of positive way rather than a negative way.”
“Criminal Record” also stars Dustin Demri-Burns, Luca Pasqualino, Luther Ford, Lyndsey Marshal, and Peter Sullivan, in addition to the returning ensemble that includes Shaun Dooley, Stephen Campbell Moore, and Charlie Creed-Miles. The series premieres April 22 on Apple TV ,with new episodes weekly through June 10.
Watch our conversation with Elaine Collins below.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: Apple TV Releases New Trailer for Season Two of ‘Criminal Record’ | WATCH
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The post ‘Criminal Record’ Season 2 Escalates with Terror, Lies and Far-Right Extremism | EUR Exclusive appeared first on EURweb | Black News, Culture, Entertainment & More.
