‘Criminal Record’ Producers on Series Not Being About ‘Good Cop and Bad Cop’ (Exclusive)

Criminal Record stars Cush Jumbo and Peter Capaldi, and the two play detectives battling each other over a past murder case. But the Apple TV+ series is not the typical police drama that employs the good cop-bad cop trope. PopCulture.com spoke to executive producers Paul Rutman and Elaine Collins, who explained how the show stands out from other shows that focus on two detectives. 

“We wanted to develop it in quite a sophisticated, complex level rather than having a sort of good cop and a bad cop,” Collins told PopCulture. “So I think the generational differences and the cultural and racial differences and stuff are absolutely integral to the piece. But we wanted that to be something that existed in all the stuff that falls through the cracks, all the nuance, all those things that are said or done that people are sort of wondering if they’re overreacting or if they’re being gaslit. So we were keen to keep it nuanced and subtle rather than this new cop and then this old big, bad racist cop. We wanted it to be more complex than that.”

Criminal Record has its share of complexity which makes it compelling. The battle between Daniel (Capaldi) and June (Jumbo) is a big reason the series is a must-watch, and it’s no surprise the two work well together since they have done so in the past. Jumbo and Capaldi also worked with Rutman and Collins behind the camera as they are also executive producers. 

“I love them as actors, so let’s just get that out there. I actually found them incredibly good to talk to,” Rutman said.”They let me alone when I needed to be alone. But I had some wonderful conversations with Cush because there are things that are outside my own experience that I really wanted to lean into with her. And we had some wonderful chats. A lot of this I wrote during lockdown, certainly the first episode or two. And so we had a number of lockdown chats before I actually met her, so that was nice.”

“And similarly with Peter, I think Peter’s an enormously creative individual, he’s a director, an Oscar-winning director, I believe, is fair to say,” Rutman continued. “He has a musical career. And so we had a lot of fun talking both about the character of Hegarty and just trying to fine-tune that and try and make him as sort of, I guess, complicated as we could. But also about story and music and all those kinds of things. So I have to say, working with them and with Elaine turned the experience into a kind of joy for me.”

The first two episodes of Criminal Record are now streaming on Apple TV+. New episodes will premiere every Wednesday, and the finale will premiere on Feb. 23.