Fans of gritty storytelling and powerhouse performances should turn to 'Crime'

Don’t let the generic title fool you – with a story by Irvine Welsh and with Dougray Scott in the lead, there’s more to TV series 'Crime' than meets the eye.

A man and a woman stand in front of some buildings. A graggy bluff looms in the background.

Lennox (Dougray Scott) and Drummond (Joanna Vanderham) in Irvine Welsh's 'Crime'. Credit: Buccaneer

DI Ray Lennox (Dougray Scott) is going through a rough patch. Actually, it’s been more of a rough few decades. A recovering addict – both drink and drugs – he’s come out the other side with a lot of demons, and his line of work gives them plenty of opportunity to come out and play. Sometimes it seems like his job is the only thing holding him together; other times it looks like its tearing him apart.

His latest case involves a missing child, a young schoolgirl grabbed by someone in a white van. Edinburgh is covered with CCTV camera but there’s no footage of the person who did the snatching. The list of suspects is a seedy one, mostly compromised of relatives and paedophiles. While they’re all clearly guilty of something, even if it’s just a complete disregard for personal hygiene in the case of her feral grandfather, Lennox and his new partner DS Amanda Drummond (Joanna Vanderham) can’t pin the crime on any of them. Increasingly, Lennox has a theory about what’s really going on; everyone else has a good reason not to listen to him.

Six people stand / sit in an office, all looking seriously at the camera.

Lennox (Dougray Scott) with the police team. Credit: Buccaneer

Cops with troubled personal lives are a staple of procedural dramas, and on the surface Lennox – who also has a relationship with Trudi (Angela Griffin) that’s fraying thanks in part to his unwavering commitment to his job – seems the latest in a long line of troubled detectives on a case that will push them to the limits. But Crime is adapted from a novel by Irvine Welsh (yes, the author of Trainspotting), and he’s a man who knows a little more than many about drink, drugs and personal demons. Lennox isn’t a bad man by any stretch (he’s not one to let racism and sexism slide for starters) but he’s clearly holding on by the skin of his teeth.

In a behind the scenes shot, a man stands in front of greenery, talking to a man who can be seen side-on. Members of the crew can be seen in the background.

Author / screenwriter Irvine Welsh on set during filming. Credit: Buccaneer

It's important to stress at this point that Dougray Scott’s performance here is one for the ages. From the script alone, Lennox is a character on a knife edge; Scott’s performance makes you feel the knife in every scene. It’s easy to become dulled to the stakes in crime dramas, what with so many innocents turning up dead in series after series. Scott’s blisteringly intense performance makes the horror of what Lennox is faced with seem fresh, constantly reminding us of the human suffering that surrounds him.

The way Scott makes everything around him seem new extends beyond the plot. Having a main character who fantasises about yelling in the face of those who frustrate him might be something we’ve seen elsewhere, but the force with which Scott delivers those scenes is totally original (and verges on frightening). It’s no surprise he won an International Emmy award in 2022 for his performance.

A man in a jacket stands waist deep in water, screaming.

Things get intense for DI Lennox. Credit: Jamie Simpson

Ironically, Scott makes Lennox so convincingly fierce yet fragile it’s not hard to side with his boss Bob (Ken Stott) when Lennox puts forward his theory as to what happened to the missing girl. He thinks she’s the latest victim of a serial killer known as Mr Confectioner. On the one hand, the crime does fit the killer’s pattern; on the other, everyone else thinks Mr Confectioner is currently rotting away in prison, having been arrested years ago.

A grey-haired man, wearing a white shirt, suspenders and tie, is at the front of the image, sitting in a chair sideways on to a desk. On the far side of the desk, a man in a suit sands inside the door to the office.

Bob Toal (Ken Stott) with Lennox (Dougray Scott). Credit: Buccaneer

Usually when this kind of twist takes place, the audience automatically assumes the detective is right, the police got the wrong man, and it’s the higher ups’ reluctance to admit their mistake that is going to get more people killed. But when it’s Lennox making the argument? Nobody doubts his commitment to seeing justice done, and yet it’s easy to understand why those around him aren’t exactly rushing to set free the man they’ve already locked up.

Don’t let an early joke about haemorrhoids fool you; this isn’t a light-hearted series. Lennox inhabits a grim world, and a lot of the characters he and Drummond run into both in and outside police HQ are tough to take. Detective Dougie Gillman (Jamie Sives) is a stand-out for all the wrong reasons, investigating a seemingly unrelated case in memorably crass and offensive fashion.

Increasingly Lennox’s own tortured past becomes more relevant; is his need to bring back Mr Confectioner based on the evidence, or some deeper, more painful need? Lennox’s suffering is just one part of this ruthlessly, relentlessly compelling series; for viewers at least, Crime does pay.

Crime starts Thursday 21 September AT 9.20pm on SBS with a double episode premiere. Single episodes will then follow weekly until 19 October. All six episodes will also be available to stream

at SBS On Demand

from 21 September.