Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo

Going Down on Their Criminal Record

by Jay S. Jacobs

In a world life gets increasingly dark and where truth feels increasingly negotiable, Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo dive into Criminal Record’s second season with characters who deal with moral gray zones as they try to keep the humanity burning under all the shadows. The new episodes are faster, hotter, and far messier than the cold‑case chess match of last season, which was fascinating in its own ways. The real thrill of the new story comes from watching two very different cops forced to trust each other before the clock runs out.

London may burn if detectives Daniel Hegarty (Capaldi) and June Lenker (Jumbo) can’t track down a potential terroristic threat which seems to have roots in the far-right manosphere. Even more than the first season, the detectives – who have similar beliefs about crime fighting but very different tactics – have to try to put aside their natural distrust of each other from the last season to try to infiltrate a group of extremists to stop weapons trafficking and an apparent planned major bombing. Office politics, confidential informants and personal affairs just muddy the waters even more for the two police officers as they race against time.

The series stars are two of the more respected actors in British film, television and theatrical circuits. Capaldi has won an Oscar (for best short film in 1995) and a BAFTA award, while Jumbo has been nominated for a Critic’s Choice Award and a Laurence Olivier Award.

Scottish-born Capaldi is arguably best known for his foul-mouthed and foul-tempered political spin doctor in Armando Iannucci’s TV series The Thick of It and its spin-off movie In the Loop. He was also the twelfth title character in the long-running classic British sci-fi classic Doctor Who (from 2013-2017) and the cranky neighbor in the beloved Paddington movies.

Jumbo is best known in the US for many years of playing attorney Lucca Quinn in the final season of The Good Wife and then the first five seasons of the show’s spin-off The Good Fight. She has also been long active in British theater and has starred in several other respected British series including  Vera, The Beast Must Die and the miniseries adaptation of Harlan Coben’s mystery novel Stay Close.

A few days before the premiere of the second season of Criminal Record, we got on zoom with Capaldi and Jumbo to discuss their show, their characters and the uncertainties of modern life.

What initially drew each of you to Criminal Record and made you want to be a part of it?

Peter Capaldi: Well, it was actually developed for us. We were always part of it from the very beginning. It was someone saying, “Would you read the script? Would you like to do it?” They wrote it around us. For me, that was the first time that had ever happened. That was quite a wonderful experience, because the part was tailored for me and for Cush, also.

The show blends procedural elements with deeper psychological and moral complexity. How do you approach balancing those layers when performing?

Cush Jumbo: What’s amazing about our scripts and the team that write our scripts is they start with the human being. The thematic stuff goes alongside that in a way that makes it feel like we’re not trying to make a psychological drama. Actually, the psychology comes from the people. Then we throw car chases and rolling off bonnets and riots in the middle of it. Then you have an amazing, thrilling crime show. I think that the best balance comes from when you are following characters you really care about and then putting them into situations which cause that moral complexity. So I think that that’s how they get the balance of it. The scripts are just really, really good.

Peter Capaldi: Part of the ethos of the show is to try and make… not complicated characters… but life is not simple. It’s not black and white. So we often have characters who, on the face of it, you think could be baddies, but in fact can be quite compelling and quite sad. I think that’s a tribute to the writing and the acting.

Like you were just saying, this series avoids easy heroes and villains. Why do you think that audiences are drawn to stories that embrace moral ambiguity?

Peter Capaldi: I think because life is challenging. Particularly at the moment, the world is quite a scary place. Trying to negotiate this new world of online influencers and social media and how that has a consequence in the real world. One of the good things about the show is that we’re two cops who have to deal with the real-life consequences of all that stuff, but we’re not going to give up. Even though the truth has been so devalued, there is some part of us that still feels the truth is sacred. Despite the challenges that this new world gives us, we’re not going to run away from that responsibility to pursue the truth as it is.

Cush Jumbo: I think people also want to watch stuff that is; yes, it’s a crime drama, yes, it’s thrilling, yes, it’s entertaining, but it actually does give them hope. Just because something doesn’t have happiness running all the way through it, it doesn’t mean it’s not hopeful. It’s good to feel that there are people within those institutions committed to doing that kind of work, and that there are young people being affected by certain themes in our show that can come out of the other end of them as well.

How do you feel that the second season is moving the story forward and intensifying the themes that the series explores?

Cush Jumbo: The main thing about this season that’s so different to season one is that we are dealing with a live case. It’s a hot case. It’s unfolding minute by minute. We are literally in a race against the clock to stop some quite awful things happening. Whereas the first season was digging into the past and getting to know Hegarty and June a bit more. That puts a pace and an urgency on the second season. That means that whatever is going on between the two of them has to be put to the side, because there are bigger things at stake.

Peter Capaldi: Yeah, and Hegarty needs June. In this case, the threat is growing all the time. He needs all the help he can get. He’s always known that she was a great cop, which is why she was a threat to him in the first place. But in this instance, they have to say, well, this is not about us. There’s another issue that we have to confront. We have to put that aside, but it doesn’t make them easy. They’re not comfortable together. They’d rather not see each other, but they have to.

Hegarty is a veteran, but he has a complicated history and does tend to operate in moral gray zones. How do you build a character who’s both authoritative and yet enigmatic, without making it too obvious or tipping your hand too early?

Peter Capaldi: I don’t know, really. (They laugh.) I mean, I love playing him. I’ve always felt about him that he has a very deep connection to London. A very deep understanding of the history of that city. Essentially, he’s a neighborhood cop who understands the street, but he’s also able to conduct himself in the conference rooms of Scotland Yard and MI5. He carries with him an understanding of how life can bruise and hurt people, and how you can’t always get what you want. I do believe that he has a commitment to protecting and defending people, but he makes choices about who those people will be. He also doesn’t care who he throws under the bus in order to do it.

Lenker is driven, principled and unafraid to challenge the system. What parts of her personality resonated with you the most?

Cush Jumbo: (chuckles) I find June to be quite an inspiring character to play, because she’s very brave. She’s probably more of a loner than I am. She finds it difficult to trust and maintain relationships. She is more, I think, introverted than I am. But when we were developing June, I just didn’t feel that distant from her. Being I had a young son, when we first started shooting the show, I was doing a job for very long hours, although I wasn’t really kicking butt in the way that June kicks butt. But the draw of her for me was always that she seemed like such an ordinary woman doing such an extraordinary job. That was really difficult. It’s not for the faint-hearted. I really enjoy playing her, but I just don’t believe that I’m as courageous as she is.

Copyright ©2026 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: April 24, 2026.

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