L&O: Original Recipe versus L&O: UK remake episodes: Lost In Translation?

[WendyCR72]

Anyone ever have the opportunity to watch L&O: UK? It did air on BBC America (not sure if the final season [for now, indefinitely] of it has, though.).

 

Anyway, for the uninitiated, L&O: UK took scripts from the Mothership (basically jumped around season wise) and remade them for its UK laws and audience. (The credits even list the title of the episode the UK episode is based upon.)

 

Some were pretty much carbon copies of the original (Nightclub fire killing a bunch of immigrants; I think the UK title was "Heaven", forgot the US title) and some varied.

 

In any case, some translated well. Others? Well, they seemed to water down the criminals or the circumstances, and it took away the punch.

 

To those who watched both versions, what did you think of the reinterpretations?

[GHScorpiosRule]

Watched it. Hated, as you stated, the watered down version. I get it, not to expect an exact replica of the American version, but the twists and mixing up of character and storylines irked me.

 

Though I did love senior partner's "Would you like a cup o' tea?" And all other Britishisms. Yes, yes, I know that's not a real word, but ye know wot I mean!

 

The worst was their interpretation of  "Helpless" (because UK didn't have their version of Olivet), "Killerz" and "Stalker."

[WendyCR72]

Was "Helpless" the episode where the female DA (or whatever the UK term was) was

raped by the gynecologist

?

[GHScorpiosRule]

Yes, @WendyCR72 that was the one. Though I don't know what title the UK version gave it.

 

I don't know...some of the acting for my favorite episodes were not as good in the British version.

[WendyCR72]

Well, I've noticed that many of the UK actors were...more restrained than on the Mothership, so maybe we were so used to the excitable responses which may have equalled more passion, or something.  :-)

[GHScorpiosRule]

Well, I've noticed that many of the UK actors were...more restrained than on the Mothership, so maybe we were so used to the excitable responses which may have equalled more passion, or something.  :-)

 

No, I didn't have a problem with the actors who played the main cast--coppers, Prosecutors, judges...it was the guest star actors, who played the perp, victim, relatives of victims, would be perps, etc. Those actors weren't as good. I wasn't expecting passion or yelling...but just not the flat affect, monotone readings they would deliver.

[WendyCR72]

No, I didn't have a problem with the actors who played the main cast--coppers, Prosecutors, judges...it was the guest star actors, who played the perp, victim, relatives of victims, would be perps, etc. Those actors weren't as good. I wasn't expecting passion or yelling...but just not the flat affect, monotone readings they would deliver.

 

I won't argue there. Some were...flat, as you put it. In any case, I felt the first few seasons (or series, as the UK denotes them) were stronger, anyway. Bradley Walsh's Ronnie Brooks seemed to become the linchpin of the UK version in much the same way his American counterpart, Jerry Orbach/Lennie Briscoe did for The Mothership.

 

So I wasn't surprised when ITV chose to "rest" the series once BW announced his departure. Yes, the US version rolled on with cast changes, but each change - IMO - of L&O: UK seemed to erode the show each time it happened, and the turnover seemed even more numerous than the Mothership or maybe it just seemed like it because so many happened so close together.

[radishcake]

Interestingly I just watched that episode with Ollivet. It's a tough one. I liked the UK version, but since I'm such a junkie it was actually kind of relaxing to just let the "British" wash over me while revisiting cases I already knew. YMMV of course. :)

[Idiotboy]

Bradley Walsh's Ronnie Brooks seemed to become the linchpin of the UK version in much the same way his American counterpart, Jerry Orbach/Lennie Briscoe did for The Mothership.

 

I couldn't agree more. Amazing how they nailed that piece of casting on the first try considering that the Mothership took a while to strike gold with Orbach. My wife won't watch the Mothership but became absolutely addicted to the British version, even though -- both in the procedures and the dialects -- it's more arcane to us Yanks. Unfortunately for us, Universal stopped putting out the DVDs after two seasons. I doubt we'd have cared for the myriad cast changes that followed.

Edited September 23, 2014 by Idiotboy

[GHScorpiosRule]

In the U.S. version, Lennie had the snark!

 

the U.K. version? I always loved Ronnie's "would you like a cup o' tea?"

 

Me: "Why yes, why don't we have ourselves a cup o' tea."

[blackdahlia]

Even though I am American I preferred the UK L&O. Everything was better in the UK version. Bradley was fantastic! I do prefer Bradley's 1st partner and the 1st Crown Prosecutor.