I just saw the eight-episode Criminal Record on Apple TV+. My wife and I are avid devotees of British detectives in dramas, and Criminal Record is better than most. In fact, it's outstanding in every way.
The story features a relatively junior detective, DS June Lenker played by Cush Jumbo, and a senior detective, DCI Daniel Hegarty played by Peter Capaldi, who come into conflict over Errol Mathis (played by Tom Moutchi), who Lenker increasingly believes was railroaded into taking the fall for the murder of his wife.
The acting is superb. Capaldi distinguished himself as Dr. Who, Jumbo was on The Good Wife, and I don't recall seeing Mathis anywhere before Criminal Record, but it's Paul Rutman's writing and creation of of this series that give it such remarkable power. In most stories like this, you'd expect DCI Hegarty to use every ounce of his prowess to protect himself and his colleagues' putting away Mathis for the presumed murder of his wife, but Hegarty has a conscience and a decency, Mathis may actually think he's guilty, and you don't know what's really what until the very last moment of the eighth episode.
And in the midst of all this, Criminal Record delivers some really funny moments. Hegarty under the strain of these events often looks like he slept the night before in a crypt, and one of his former colleagues remarks when Hegarty is looking particularly haggard that he would do well if he showed up for a casting call for a corpse.
I don't want to share any more humor with you, or anything more about the plot, lest I rob you of the enjoyment you'll have watching this series. There's talk of making a second season, and I certainly hope they do. In the meantime, you absolutely can't go wrong watching the first.
