Law & Order: UK

Narrator:
In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups. The police who investigate crime, and the Crown Prosecutors who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.

Alesha Phillips:
I know the difference between being examined and being assaulted. Unless you don't believe me.

Ronnie Brooks:
Oh, don't be daft. 'Course we believe you.

Natalie Chandler:
We're on your side, okay?

Alesha Phillips:
It's going to be hard to prove.

Matt Devlin:
Hey, it's never stopped us before.

Ronnie Brooks:
I ain't having some ponced up Harley Street doctor thinking he can get away with this.

Matt Devlin:
And he didn't just assault Alesha, he threatened her.

Natalie Chandler:
Look, there's...

Matt Devlin:
He abused his position.

Natalie Chandler:
There is no such thing as a one-time sex offender. He's got to have done it to other women.

James Steel:
We don't have enough of a case. I'm sorry, no other women have come forward. They're probably too scared to speak out.

Ronnie Brooks:
Which is what he relies on.

Alesha Phillips:
He'll do it again. He won't stop. And what if he goes further next time?

James Steel:
Alesha.

Alesha Phillips:
What if he already has?

James Steel:
If no one speaks out...

Alesha Phillips:
James, I spoke out!

James Steel:
All I have is your word against his. There's his reputation.

Alesha Phillips:
Oh, why would a Harley Street doctor want to touch up a black girl from Hackney?

James Steel:
You're making this personal.

Alesha Phillips:
It is personal, James, I was the one lying there!

James Steel:
I am as angry as you are.

Alesha Phillips:
Trust me, you're not.

Matt Devlin:
This is a doctor who likes to hurt people. Am I the only one making connections here?

Natalie Chandler:
We're all seeing the links, Matt, we all know he's a nasty piece of work. But we also know that Diane Perkins hasn't made any allegations, and Laura Todd's complaint was not proven.

Matt Devlin:
And what about Alesha? I thought - I thought you'd understand. As a woman...

Natalie Chandler:
As a woman, I'd like to cut off his dick with a rusty hacksaw and ram it down his throat! As your boss, I suggest you take what you have got to steel and see what he says.

Alesha Phillips:
[after James' aggressive cross-examination of Matt] You didn't have to go that far.

James Steel:
I went as far as I needed to.

Alesha Phillips:
Matt Devlin is a good police officer.

James Steel:
Not today. Today he was collateral damage.

George Castle:
[about the Director of Public Prosecutions] God, I swear that woman was put on this earth just to irritate my duodenum. Now, whatever it takes, you guarantee that that jury find on manslaughter - diminished responsibility and not murder. I want that girl in a hospital, not a prison.

James Steel:
What about the DPP?

James Steel:
Oh, screw the DPP. I answer to Conor's mother on this one.

Kim Sharkey:
[about Rose Shaw] You want to put her in hospital?

James Steel:
Don't you? Rose needs treatment.

Kim Sharkey:
[scoffs] Thanks, but, no thanks.

James Steel:
Well, I'm giving your client a way out of a murder charge.

Alesha Phillips:
Surely it's in Rose's best interests to have someone try and fix her.

Kim Sharkey:
The child's a monster. I doubt anyone could fix her. You're only offering a deal because you're worried I'm going to win.

James Steel:
You couldn't care less what's best for Rose, you just don't want to give up your 15 minutes.

Kim Sharkey:
Cases like this come along once in a lifetime, James. They're career-makers.

James Steel:
This isn't a shortcut to silk, Kim, it's a child's life!

Kim Sharkey:
Do calm down, James, or you'll be comparing ulcers with George.

Julie Reid:
I saw this woman on the, uh, the news last night, and she said Rose Shaw was Satan reborn, they should bring back hanging just for her. I've never heard so much hate in someone's voice.

George Castle:
Well, public feeling is very strong.

Julie Reid:
All these flowers on the estate, sackloads of cards everyday, like they all knew him. All of them, out there, feeding off my boy's death. Lettin' it take over their lives. It's like they need it. The funny thing is, all I want, yeah? All I need is to let it go.

James Steel:
The trial can help you do that.

Julie Reid:
Sending her to prison won't help me. It won't bring my boy back.

Alesha Phillips:
Most victims' families find it gives them a sense of closure.

Julie Reid:
Closure? This ain't closure. This is revenge. No, that little girl don't deserve it. She's been through enough. We live on the same estate. I know what goes on in there.

George Castle:
She broke the law in the most terrible way.

Julie Reid:
She's a child! What, you want to hide her behind a 10-foot wall so that no one has to look at her? No one has to ask her wha- who's really responsible for Conor's death? No. No, no, it's too easy.

James Steel:
Prosecuting kids is never easy.

Julie Reid:
My Conor, he used to- he liked to draw them pictures, you know, the ones where you put the paint through the straws. He loved dogs. [sobs] That's how I want to remember him. My happy little boy. I don't want my memories clouded by hate. I mean, would you want your son brought up in a world with no hope? You can't- you can't save Conor, but you can save her. Yeah, you can- you can give Rosie Shaw a life.

George Castle:
You can forgive her?

Julie Reid:
I hate what she did with every- every bone in my body! But... but I'm a mum, you know? I can't hate a child. You say you represent me, then this is what you do: you make Conor's life mean something, yeah? You find out why she did it and you get that little girl help.

[after Ms Sharkey conveniently forgets to email an important application and presents him with the hard copy just before trial]

Kim Sharkey:
At the time of her interview, Paige Ward was not accompanied by a solicitor or appropriate adult.

James Steel:
Uh, she was accompanied by her 28-year-old mother who refused legal representation.

Kim Sharkey:
A woman with an IQ below that of an average 12-year-old.

James Steel:
Unlike the morals of the average 12-year-old, which my learned colleague shares.

Ronnie Brooks:
[about Tommy Keegan] Ah, so his dad got him into the Hammers.

Natalie Chandler:
Sorry?

Matt Devlin:
West Ham, commonly known as the Hammers, because they keep getting [singsong] hammered.

Ronnie Brooks:
Watch it, sunshine.

[Brooks and Devlin have just finished interviewing retired Copper Jeff McFadden]

Matt Devlin:
'Okay, so we missed the corpse.' Okay, so you're probably the crappiest copper I've ever met.

Matt Devlin:
He's just a product of his time, Matt.

Ronnie Brooks:
What, there were no good detectives back then?

Matt Devlin:
Oh yeah, you're talking to one. Like I keep telling you, I am special.

Matt Devlin:
Mother Phillipa Kegan, Arthur Kegan was the dad, but he died the year before, 1982

Natalie Chandler:
How many loses can one woman take?

Natalie Chandler:
The Investigating officer, D.S...?

Ronnie Brooks:
McFadden. I'm fluent in illegible.

[first lines]

Narrator:
In the criminal justice system the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crime, and the crown prosecutors who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.

[last lines]

CPS Director George Castle:
Well done James. A good result. Go home, have a drink; it's over.

Senior Crown Prosecutor James Steel:
For us maybe.

Senior Crown Prosecutor James Steel:
This is why the rest or Ridley's chambers call him "Limbo", because there's nothing he won't stoop to.

DS Ronnie Brooks:
He can't even look after a goldfish.

DS Matt Devlin:
I fed it just like you said. The fish was ailing before I went anywhere near it.

DS Ronnie Brooks:
Tell that to my daughter.

DS Matt Devlin:
The old needle/haystack interface.

DS Ronnie Brooks:
Look on the bright side, son, you might end up with a yummy mummy.

DI Natalie Chandler:
He's already working for one.

DS Ronnie Brooks:
What about an ID of the person who left it?

DS Matt Devlin:
Chinese guy dumped it around one. Asian bird at around half twelve. She was a fat black woman. It was a thin white guy. Take your pick.

DS Ronnie Brooks:
God bless the Great British public.

Alesha Phillips:
Looking back through Turner's files, on his last assault charge, he was offered to deal down to a year in prison if he gave up Maureen Walters. He didn't bite.

Senior Crown Prosecutor James Steel:
So he went to prison rather than give evidence against his boss? That's some loyalty.

Alesha Phillips:
Because she's not his boss. Mike Turner is a silent partner in the whole company. All of those buildings, they own them together. Their property portfolio must be worth nearly ?5 million.

CPS Director George Castle:
While a child dies in squalor in one of their flats.

Senior Crown Prosecutor James Steel:
So Maureen Walters must've known exactly what Mike Turner was doing. They must've hatched the plan together to get the tenants out. She's culpable.

Alesha Phillips:
Mmm-hmm.

Senior Crown Prosecutor James Steel:
We go after Maureen Walters. As head of the company, the buck stops with her. We put her in the dock...

CPS Director George Castle:
Now, now, just hold on a second. If they're partners, then they will deny everything in unison. We have to be more pragmatic.

Senior Crown Prosecutor James Steel:
But surely it's worth...

CPS Director George Castle:
No trial. We get Turner and Walters to plead guilty to a lesser charge.

Alesha Phillips:
George, a baby was killed. Dionne Farrah's life has been destroyed.

CPS Director George Castle:
And this way, we convict those responsible.

Alesha Phillips:
The most they could get would be a couple of months in prison. They could even walk out of court with fines for a child's death. That's a disgrace.

Senior Crown Prosecutor James Steel:
George is right. A trial is no guarantee of success. I'd rather see them convicted of something than walk free of everything.

Senior Crown Prosecutor James Steel:
In my experience, Mr. Turner, people change their plea for two reasons: conscience or self-preservation. Now, as conscience seems beyond you, I'm giving you one last chance to save yourself.

James Steel:
[his closing argument] Whose freedom has priority here? You might think that Roland Kirk is your worst nightmare. You might understand Harry Morgan's frustration, but he broke the law. He beat Roland Kirk in the most brutal way, then he walked away, leaving Roland Kirk for dead. That wasn't self-defence. That was vigilantism. In viciously attacking a sleeping man, Harry Morgan became a bigger menace to society than Roland Kirk could ever be.

[last lines]

James Steel:
Evil triumphs when good men do nothing. That includes juries.

Alesha Phillips:
Come on, I don't think Harry Morgan's evil. He got pushed too far. He made a mistake.

James Steel:
And he's gone unpunished.

Harry Morgan:
[approaching] So, the system finally came through. For me.

James Steel:
Do you expect me to congratulate you?

Harry Morgan:
[walking away] Let's hope that Kirk stays away this time. Because if he comes back, I'll do it again.

James Steel:
It doesn't matter what Kirk did. Harry Morgan's actions can't go unpunished. I'll make the jury see that.

George Castle:
It could be tougher than you think. We're all potential vigilantes, deep down. If I had been through what Harry Morgan had been through, I might be tempted to have a go myself.

James Steel:
And beat a man unconscious?

George Castle:
We're all liberals until the front garden is invaded, James. The jury will be imagining what they would do in the same situation. We can't afford for Harry Morgan to become a cause c?l?bre, James. The last thing we want is a middle-class vigilante hero, so you go into that court and you expose him for the thug that he is.

Harry Morgan:
Look, why am I having to defend myself? And why do you people always take their side?

Alesha Phillips:
Whose side?

Harry Morgan:
The inadequates! The people who can't function in society. What about my rights? And I'm not a bigot. I'm an architect. I read The Guardian, for crying out loud.

Alesha Phillips:
Look, I understand how desperate you must feel.

Harry Morgan:
No, you don't. [sigh] My son hates me because Kirk got inside his head and turned him against me, and he has made my life a living nightmare.

James Steel:
I want to find out who did this to you.

Roland Kirk:
I wouldn't bother. The system don't work for people like me, you know that. It's for ordinary people with orderly lives, people with order in their lives, see? Don't put any trust in me, mate.

George Castle:
Do you know what I am doing tomorrow James? I am accounting to the Chief Exec of the CPS for every penny spent on failed convictions. It's Saturday tomorrow, James. I like Saturdays - my wife insists on them.

James Steel:
So you want us to come back at the start of the next financial year?

George Castle:
Don't be a smart ass.

Robert Ridley QC:
We'll never know why Garvey shot himself, unless you can communicate with the dead.

James Steel:
Well, I am a man of many talents, Robert.

Alesha Phillips:
Another satisfied member of the James Steel fan club. What do you that winds these people up?

James Steel:
Oh you know... breathe.

James Steel:
I made a few gentle inquiries, George. If the Cardinal misunderstood my tone, that's not my problem.

George Castle:
Gentle inquiries? His exact words were 'bully boy techniques, veiled threats and libelous accusations'.

James Steel:
That doesn't sound like me.

George Castle:
That's about par for the course to me [Alesha is snickering in the background]

Father Aiden Browne:
[discussing a former priest who is on trial] He had wanderlust.

James Steel:
With the greatest respect Father, I think his lust was of a very different sort.

George Castle:
[after Father Browne leaves the CPS offices] Well, I'm Church of Scotland, so I'm okay.

Robert Ridley QC:
Scottish expert witness? It always plays well with the jury. I don't know how I'm going to bounce back.

James Steel:
Don't sell yourself short, Robert. I'm sure you or one of flying monkeys are already cooking up a way for Nugent to wriggle out of this.

Alesha Phillips:
Book an ambulance James, because George is SO going to have an aneurysm.

George Castle:
We lost the last hand, and they hold all the cards.

James Steel:
So let's call their bluff. We'll threaten to hit them where it hurts-in their pockets. We'll say Harry Lucas is going to bring a civil suit against them just like in Ireland and if that happens, it'll cost them millions.

George Castle:
And if they don't fold? [James looks at him with a poker face]

James Steel:
Remind me NEVER to play you in poker.

Robert Ridley QC:
[In the CPS office] This place gives me a migraine

James Steel:
That'll be your conscience gnawing at you, Robert.

Ronnie Brooks:
I don't understand this, Whatever happened to keeping things private? Now it's just all out there for everyone to see and read. Theres stuff on here I wouldn't even tell myself.

Natalie Chandler:
Ronnie?

Ronnie Brooks:
Yeah?

Natalie Chandler:
No one's listening.

Ronnie Brooks:
Yeah.

George Castle:
And so the madness begins.

Ronnie Brooks:
[Walking away from Smith's ramblings] Worse this is, after a while it almost starts making sense.

George Castle:
[Flipping through the defendant's motion] Two-hundred page application to dismiss. I don't know if we should prosecute him or offer him a job.

Jason Peters:
[after James calls him Don Marsh's "messenger boy"] I'm not a messenger boy, James. That's insulting of you.

James Steel:
That's nothing. You should hear what I think about your client.

Ronnie Brooks:
I used to box in that gym as a nipper. I used to really enjoy it. Family run place, it was nice. Well, it was, of course, until you lot moved in.

Don Marsh:
When you gonna give up, Ron?

Ronnie Brooks:
Well, that's never gonna happen.

Don Marsh:
You put the booze before your daughters, you put the job before them. Isn't it time you started thinking about your girls, Ron?

Ronnie Brooks:
That's "Detective Sergeant Brooks" to you.

Beatrice McArdle:
You know, I've always found your inflexibility truly irritating, James.

James Steel:
Then please don't let me keep you.

Beatrice McArdle:
Manslaughter - provocation, have we got ourselves a deal?

James Steel:
[scoffs] This was a straight-up revenge killing, Bea, you know it.

Beatrice McArdle:
Wha- you think she wasn't provoked? He-he kidnapped and murdered her only child!

James Steel:
No, that hadn't been proved. Nick Carlton died an innocent man.

Beatrice McArdle:
Well, why don't you tell that to the jury. We are on the side of the angels, James. You force a murder trial, and you are the one who's going to end up with egg on his face.

Sara Fraser:
How did this operation come about?

Ronnie Brooks:
DS Valentine brought us a tip-off regarding a large amount of pure-grade heroin that was about to come into the country.

Sara Fraser:
Why did he come to you specifically?

Ronnie Brooks:
We both joined CID around about the same time. Worked alongside each other for several years.

Sara Fraser:
Do you know him socially?

Ronnie Brooks:
Is that relevant?

Sara Fraser:
If I've asked you, yes.

Dickie Grant:
Whatever DS Alan Spector did or did not confess while I was representing him is privileged information.

Alesha Phillips:
A police officer's career is on the line. Give me an off-the-record confirmation, I'd owe you one.

Dickie Grant:
As the most beautiful girl I've met this week, or as Crown Prosecutor?

Alesha Phillips:
Prosecutor.

Dickie Grant:
The gods taunt me again.

Ronnie Brooks:
I can't go in that witness box. It's complicated.

Matt Devlin:
You're a copper, Ron. You live for this job, and they could charge you with perverting the course of justice. Be the end of you, mate.

Ronnie Brooks:
I've admitted I've made mistakes, okay? And I've put 'em right. But I'm the best I can be now, Matt, truly, I am. So when do I get a break, eh? When do I get forgiven? I didn't take that heroin. You believe me, don't you?

Matt Devlin:
Of course.

Alesha Phillips:
How hard did you try, James?

James Steel:
I'm sorry?

Alesha Phillips:
Well, you didn't push him, did you? He gave you the answer you wanted. You wanted him on trial all along.

James Steel:
Uh, I did what George sent me to do. Am I happy to be prosecuting Jimmy Valentine? Yeah, he's a policeman who shot a civilian.

Alesha Phillips:
So we make an example of him, rather than let police gain crucial intelligence on a major drug baron?

James Steel:
The police want corruption held to account. You ask Matt and Ronnie. They want Valentine in court. I'm doing this for them.

Alesha Phillips:
What if we lose? Valentine walks free, and we've gained nothing.

James Steel:
I won't lose. It's time. Are you with me?

Ronnie Brooks:
My old man used to say, 'There's no such thing as a friend. Friends will always let you down.' I used to look at him and think, 'What a miserable old bastard.' I'd argue with him and say, 'Dad, you're wrong, mate.' Huh, I'll tell you what, Matty, I bet he's looking down at me now, laughing his head off.

Matt Devlin:
Look, Ron, it gives me no pleasure...

Ronnie Brooks:
Jimmy Valentine bought my fish for me today, all right? It felt like he was buying me off.

Jacob Thorne:
Justice is blind... sometimes a little bit sneaky.

[Central London Revenue Office, Hammersmith W14, Thursday 19th November]

Una McGladdery:
Fantastic. This is the reason I joined. All I want is mountains of paperwork.

Alesha Phillips:
So what should we be looking for?

Una McGladdery:
You don't "look" for anything. Be the paper, become the numbers. First rule of tax forms? Everybody lies. Second rule of tax forms: everybody gets found out eventually, usually by me.

James Steel:
What do you need.

Una McGladdery:
[to James Steel] Guns.

Una McGladdery:
[to Alesha Phillips] Lots of guns.

[a pause as Alesha's slight smile abruptly fades]

Una McGladdery:
Only jokin'. More floor space. Three current businesses, several failed ventures: this guy's been in business since 1994. He started filing his online returns in 2005. I can handle those. Pre-that, it's paper, and you need a lot more floor space.

James Steel:
Ah. Consider it done.

Una McGladdery:
[hefting two heavy-duty staplers and clicking them as if they're guns, a la Trinity] Let's get to work.

Dr. Julia Lam:
We gave her three ampoules of Naloxone, no response. Convulsions, severe bleeding. Eighteen years old and she died of biventricular heart failure.

Matt Devlin:
Eighteen and she died of a heart attack?

Ronnie Brooks:
Well, that's young. What was it, coke?

Dr. Julia Lam:
Heroin.

Matt Devlin:
Was she a regular user?

Dr. Julia Lam:
No, she was a swallower. That's her bag. We found seventy heroin-filled condoms in her stomach.

Ronnie Brooks:
Did you say seventy? Seven zero?

Ronnie Brooks:
Well, let's hope something turns up. Otherwise, it's door to door for the next six weeks.

Teddy:
Oh, which is why I brought you this.

Ronnie Brooks:
"Persian Pottery of the Eleventh Century." Thanks, Teddy. I wondered where I left that.

James Steel:
Natalie, please! We have to find something to prove this girl's lying, or were just gonna have to walk away.

Natalie Chandler:
Well maybe you'd like to talk to the boys there, who as far as I know have been doing more than sitting on their backsides with their fingers in their ears for the past few weeks.

James Steel:
My wife once told me I was too pious for my own good... just before she threw a plate of toast at me.

Birsen Ozkan:
His human rights? The murderer has human rights? What rights does my son have? Didn't he have 'human rights' not to burn alive? These people play the system, and you let them!

Ronnie Brooks:
We're not giving up.

Birsen Ozkan:
No, you're just playing games. You're not going to get us justice. We don't matter to you. We're not British. You don't even see us!

James Steel:
We do see you. We see your loss and your grief, and we will prosecute the person who did this. There is no prejudice in the law.

Birsen Ozkan:
Talk, that's all you people do. When you've done something, I'll believe you.

Matt Devlin:
[about Mickey] The kid's a right little chopper, but I don't know if he's an arsonist. I can't see him burning down that whole club just 'cause of Leyla.

Ronnie Brooks:
Well, let me tell ya. I was sitting in my kitchen one morning with my first wife. We was having a bit of breakfast. She's sitting across the table from me, crunching toast really loud, and it was getting on my wick. And I remember looking at her and looking around my kitchen and thinking, 'I could easily torch this gaff, with you in it and me standing outside, watching.'

Ronnie Brooks:
Matty, Intel reckon there's only one gang operating in the UK that could be involved with organ trafficking, and it's run by Jason "Non-Stick" Taylor. Murder, corruption, blackmail, fraud on a grand scale. Nicked him fourteen times, never been put away.

Matt Devlin:
Hence "Non-Stick".

Ronnie Brooks:
No. They call him Non-Stick 'cause he likes burning people's faces off with a frying pan. Prosecution witness in particular.

Ronnie Brooks:
You know what, Matty? We're coming at this from the wrong direction.

Matt Devlin:
We are?

Ronnie Brooks:
We are. We shouldn't be looking for the person who stole the kidney. We should be looking for the person who needs one.

Matt Devlin:
[sorting through garbage at a landfill] Are you sure this is the right spot?

Ronnie Brooks:
Valerie Hale's flat was on collection route number thirty-two. And the foreman reckons this is where the thirty-two lorry dumps its stuff, so stop moaning and keep looking.

Matt Devlin:
"'What did you do today, Matt?' Oh, you know, the usual. Poked through seventeen rat-infested pee-ridden skips in a rubbish dump."

Ronnie Brooks:
You know what you need, son? Bit of PMA. Positive mental attitude. You'd be surprised what people chuck out. That sofa bed in my spare room, for instance.

Matt Devlin:
No! I've slept in that! You said that was from IKEA!

Ronnie Brooks:
Well, it was originally, weren't it?

Matt Devlin:
I don't believe it.

James Steel:
What do you think gave you the right to do this?

Mr John Reberty:
Let me tell you about Darren McKenzie, because when I found he was a perfect match, I looked into his life. He ran down a young girl and killed her. Nothing good has come of Darren McKenzie on this planet, but I changed that. When his kidney went into Joanna Woodleigh, his existence had meaning, he'd done something good for the first time in his life.

James Steel:
Do you even hear what you're saying? Darren McKenzie did not volunteer to donate. You don't get to make that choice for him.

Mr John Reberty:
I get to make those choices everyday. That's what surgeons do. The system failed her. I didn't. You might think you're better than me, but you couldn't do what I do. I have lost count of the lives I have saved, whereas you, you have never made a tough decision in your life.

Philip Woodleigh:
I'm not going down without a fight, and I need your help, George.

George Castle:
Now, Philip, listen, I can only...

Philip Woodleigh:
I want you to defend me.

George Castle:
What? Well, that's the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard, and I go to meetings for the Home Secretary!

Matt Devlin:
Snatching a kid from a ride right in front of his own mum. This bastard's got balls.

Ronnie Brooks:
Yeah, and I know what I'd like to do with them.

Natalie Chandler:
Do we believe Carson?

Ronnie Brooks:
Well, why would he lie?

Matt Devlin:
Same reason why dogs piss on lampposts - it's their nature.

[Brooks and Devlin return to CID after a tough conversation with Ray Griffin's sergeant]

Matt Devlin:
Happy now, or is there someone you've omitted to piss off?

Ronnie Brooks:
This is how we do it, poke 'em and see if they bite.

Matt Devlin:
No, not when it's one of ours, [shouting] and not when he's grieving for one of his boys!

Ronnie Brooks:
So what, everyone here gets a free pass, do they?

Matt Devlin:
No, they get what everyone else gets, some basic courtesy and a little respect.

Ronnie Brooks:
Let me explain something to you, son, just so as we understand each other. We set an example to the rest of society. So if anyone here falls below that standard, the gloves are off. So if people get a bit prickly or their feelings get hurt, that is tough. I can live with that. Got it?

Alesha Phillips:
Can I just remind you that we owe our whole existence to a good relationship with the police? If we go after this, I will have to explain to the DPP exactly why we are committing institutional suicide.

George Castle:
So we never prosecute police because we need their goodwill?

Alesha Phillips:
No, correction, we never prosecute anyone unless we have a rock-solid case, and manslaughter-gross negligence is one hell of a leap.

George Castle:
Can I just remind you that we owe our whole existence to a good relationship with the police? If we go after this, I will have to explain to the DPP exactly why we are committing institutional suicide.

Alesha Phillips:
So we never prosecute police because we need their goodwill?

George Castle:
No, correction, we never prosecute anyone unless we have a rock-solid case, and manslaughter-gross negligence is one hell of a leap.

Natalie Chandler:
Haven't you got a meal for one waiting for you to heat up?

Ronnie Brooks:
I don't heat 'em up Gov. I just suck 'em frozen.

Tracey Blake:
[about Jono Blake] I used to think it was my fault.

James Steel:
What do you mean?

Tracey Blake:
That I wasn't a good enough mum. That I didn't deserve a kid. But that was before all this gene stuff. Now I know there was nothing I could have done. It wouldn't have made any difference. The papers are right-he's a monster.

James Steel:
Is that what you really think about your own son?

Tracey Blake:
You heard what they're saying about him: his genes are rotten. He's wrong.

James Steel:
How many months pregnant are you?

James Steel:
Seven.

James Steel:
So, based on your belief in genes, we should take that baby from your arms the second it's born and lock it up.

Tracey Blake:
No!

James Steel:
Well, surely genetics dictates that your next child will be a monster, too.

Tracey Blake:
It'll be different this time. I won't make the same mistakes I made with him.

James Steel:
No further questions.

James Steel:
[about Beatrice McArdle ] I know her; she's up to something. That defence is way too simple.

George Castle:
Just because you two used to do the headboard shuffle, doesn't mean that you have any insight into how she runs her defences, nowadays.

Alesha Phillips:
What, you and her?

James Steel:
Yeah, it was a long time ago. Thanks for that, George.

Ronnie Brooks:
Nobody has proved that Agnew was battering Danny, and even if he was, it doesn't mean he's a murderer.

Matt Devlin:
But look, look at his body language. I mean, he's sitting on his hands! It's classic. He's hiding something.

Ronnie Brooks:
Matt, what are you going to charge him with, bad posture?

[Bernice Bradley searches a desk covered in files and paperwork]

Ronnie Brooks:
This is what I always worried the inside of my head looked like.

Bernice Bradley:
[as she hands Danny's file to him] One person's mess is another person's filing system.

Matt Devlin:
[about their victim] No wallet, no ID, no mobile.

Ronnie Brooks:
So not a known local. What do you reckon, lad's walked off the train and got his first and last welcome to London?

Matt Devlin:
Well, he was what, 12? 13? Someone should tell these kids the streets aren't lined with well-wishers.

Ronnie Brooks:
If the street's the alternative, makes you wonder what they're running away from.

Alesha Phillips:
McArdle's asked for the jury to be discharged. She's changed the basis of her plea.

George Castle:
She's put in an application?

Alesha Phillips:
For a retrial. The new defence she's running is that Jono is not guilty by reason of mental defect.

George Castle:
[laughing] What? She'll never make it home on an insanity defence.

Alesha Phillips:
She's not saying he's insane. She's running non-insane automatism, an involuntary act committed while not conscious of actions taken. Most of Jono's blood relatives are in prison. Her defence is that Jono is genetically predisposed to violent behaviour.

James Steel:
[scoffing] Oh, she can't run that. It's outrageous. We'd have every criminal in the country making the same case. What's she playing at?

George Castle:
"Don't blame me, blame my genes." It's bold, I'll give her that. But let's not panic. No sane judge would let that get beyond a hearing. So, who did we draw?

Alesha Phillips:
Uh, Judge DeMarco.

George Castle:
Oh, God. Let's panic.

Luke Slade:
How many bodies must be buried in London? This city was built on corpses. Why does this one matter so much to you?

James Steel:
[intensely] They all matter!

Luke Slade:
[laughing] You really mean that. God how do you manage, living with that conscience? Does it keep you awake? I mean, literally, does it?

James Steel:
No more than yours must.

Luke Slade:
Well, we're not the same. You're an obsessed, discredited man, out on his own, while I'm rehabilitated into society. For a while, you were the only person who got the better of me. I couldn't let that stand.

[Slade walks away]

James Steel:
This isn't finished!

Luke Slade:
[turning back] You think my complaint won't stick? I'm not a beginner. Goodbye, James.

Matt Devlin:
You don't reckon CPS got it wrong, do you?

Ronnie Brooks:
Well, don't get ahead of yourself, mate. Hindsight makes things look very simple. If I knew nine years ago what I know now...

Matt Devlin:
Yeah, what?

Ronnie Brooks:
Well, I'd still be too stupid to do anything about it.

Matt Devlin:
Thank you, Confucius.

Watchmaker:
[examining the victim's watch] Ah, this brand, they all have a code - two letters and two digits. Now, the letters give you the month; the digits give you the year. Now... this was manufactured in June 1978.

Ronnie Brooks:
Yeah, that's very good, sir, but we was hoping you might be able to tell us who the owner of the timepiece was, you see.

Watchmaker:
Oh, have patience, patience. You know what happens when everything is a rush?

Ronnie Brooks:
No.

Watchmaker:
People accept sh*t.

Ronnie Brooks:
Did you ever have a metal detector?

Matt Devlin:
No, a pogo stick. The metal detector kids were the nerds.

Ronnie Brooks:
[chuckling] I always fancied one, but the first Mrs. Brooks reckoned I had enough crap without going looking for it.

James Steel:
[seeing Slade outside the courthouse] What are you doing out here?

Luke Slade:
I discovered in prison that I really like smoking. Something to thank you for. Unless I get cancer. Then I'd have to sue you.

James Steel:
Where's your barrister?

Luke Slade:
I'm representing myself.

James Steel:
[incredulous] At the Court of Appeal?

Luke Slade:
I spent the last eight years with time on my hands. So I studied the law. How's your wife? Um, what are you, separated or divorced?

James Steel:
This is a murder case. You should have a barrister. The judge can delay the case while you find someone to represent you.

Luke Slade:
Honestly, I'm fine. Thank you, though.

[reviewing the evidence of Luke Slade's first trial]

Ronnie Brooks:
Okay, we've got two witnesses living abroad, one dead, and another couple who can hardly remember the details of their story.

Matt Devlin:
If someone asked me what I was up to nine years ago, I'm not sure I'd have the full picture.

Natalie Chandler:
Come on, boys. We've got to do better than this.

Matt Devlin:
Yes! How's this for better? Slade's girlfriend made a statement to the original investigation about her car, which Slade used to borrow. Slade sold it for her a couple of days after Ackroyd's disappearance. The original investigation never managed to trace it, but I have.

Natalie Chandler:
Slade could have used the vehicle to move the body.

Ronnie Brooks:
Maybe if we can get it forensicated.

Matt Devlin, Natalie Chandler:
"Forensicate" isn't a word.

Ronnie Brooks:
[questioning their victim's boss] Tell me, was he into prostitutes?

Josh Pritchard:
And what kind of question is that?

Ronnie Brooks:
A relevant one.

Matt Devlin:
[leaving Velvet Holdings] She said he rang about a delivery, but he picked the stuff up himself, from Epping to Barnes. And he's the operational director.

[Brooks offers a piece of candy]

Matt Devlin:
No. Why bother with that?

Ronnie Brooks:
And why do Battle Fieldz with a zed have them listed under miscellaneous supplies in their accounts? They've got to have a category for that sort of stuff.

Matt Devlin:
Well, maybe it was a mistake. Depends on what you favour, conspiracy or cook-up.

Ronnie Brooks:
You know me, Matty. I believe everything everyone tells me, and I'm disappointed on a daily basis.

Ronnie Brooks:
How did the prostitution start?

Kate Barton:
We prefer to call ourselves escorts.

Ronnie Brooks:
Well, that's classier, I agree. But whatever you want to call it, how did it start?

Ronnie Brooks:
Did you kill Frank McCallum?

Kate Barton:
No.

Ronnie Brooks:
Did Emma?

Kate Barton:
We were shopping all afternoon.

Ronnie Brooks:
Frank McCallum had a wife who loved him, a job he enjoyed, and a lot of mates who are struggling to understand why, at the age of forty-seven, he is dead. If you provide a false alibi for a killer, you are in just as much trouble as they are. Misguided loyalty will not help you or your sons.

Natalie Chandler:
So why's he got his Ninky Nonk out when they find him?

Matt Devlin:
[laughing] You don't really call it a Ninky Nonk!

Natalie Chandler:
You should here what I call you.