[1] The series was highly controversial upon its release due to its depiction of a corrupt British police force and legal system.
[2] The series was highly controversial upon its release due to its depiction of corrupt British law enforcement and legal systems.
'[4] A review by Matteo Sedazzari in May 2018 concluded: 'it's such a shame that the BBC seriously do not produce dramas like this anymore, thought-provoking, brutal and powerful',[5] and Adam Sweeting in The Spectator described it as 'compellingly plausible'.
[6] Jasper Rees wrote for the Arts Desk in May 2018 'Law and Order more than earns this 40th-anniversary trip down memory's stinking back alley'.
[7] The series was discussed on BBC Radio 4's programme Thinking Allowed on 23 May 2018, with the host Laurie Taylor talking to criminologist Tim Newburn and Charlotte Brunsden, Professor of Film & Television Studies at the University of Warwick, along with the author, to engage with the question of 'the extent to which... [the series] created a public and political debate which produced positive reform'.