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The Best Episodes of Law & Order: UK

Every episode of Law & Order: UK ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Law & Order: UK!

Adapted from the hit US series, Law & Order: UK follows a team of police detectives and prosecutors representing the public interest in the criminal...
Genre:Drama
Network:ITV1

Best Episodes Summary

"Deal" is the best rated episode of "Law & Order: UK". It scored 8.4/10 based on 142 votes. Directed by Andy Goddard and written by Emilia di Girolamo, it aired on 8/14/2011. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "Hard Stop".

  • Deal
    8.4/10142 votes
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    #1 - Deal

    Season 5 Episode 6 - Aired 8/14/2011

    The team investigate, when mother and carer Lia Brown is killed by a stray bullet,what the involvement is of 12-year-old Kaden Blake in her death. Kaden is caught up in the local gang culture, so keeping silent is his only protection. DS Matt Devlin is drawn to this damaged boy, saddened to see a life so doomed by circumstance, and furious that local dealer and gang leader Mark Ellis remains untouchable by the law.

    Director: Andy Goddard

    Writer: Emilia di Girolamo

  • Hard Stop
    8.2/1084 votes
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    #2 - Hard Stop

    Season 8 Episode 7 - Aired 4/23/2014

    When a spate of shootings claims one of Ronnie and Joe's own, Wes Leyton, the pair are left with a race against time as the next target the shooter has in his cross-hairs is CPS boss Henry Sharpe.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Repeat to Fade
    8.2/1084 votes
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    #3 - Repeat to Fade

    Season 8 Episode 8 - Aired 6/11/2014

    Still affected by the death of one of their team, Ronnie and Joe have a new case to deal with when a young mother is stabbed to death in a busy London marketplace.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Safe
    8.1/10110 votes
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    #4 - Safe

    Season 5 Episode 2 - Aired 7/17/2011

    When two year old Ryan Stark goes missing from a high street merry-go-round, his distraught mother, Kayla reports him kidnapped and a massive police hunt is launched to find the missing toddler. In spite of public appeals and additional police manpower, the search throws up more questions than answers. The legal case uncovers a history of dealings with the social services before Ryan went missing, something which alerts our heroes to the possibility that his mother isn’t being entirely truthful. With more than one suspect and little physical evidence, will Ryan’s family ever learn the truth of what happened to their baby boy?

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Emilia di Girolamo

  • Tracks
    8.1/10102 votes
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    #5 - Tracks

    Season 7 Episode 1 - Aired 7/14/2013

    A suicidal man kills several people when he causes a catastrophic train crash, and Sam struggles to cope after one of the young victims dies in his arms.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Broken
    8.0/10158 votes
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    #6 - Broken

    Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 9/9/2010

    The terrifying CCTV image of a toddler being led to his death haunts this episode of Law & Order UK which deals with the difficult and morally complex issue of children who kill. As a society, we are very unforgiving of child killers but if the killers themselves are only children, it begs the question - who really is responsible for the crime? With two children in the frame, each blaming the other, can forensic evidence prove who is guilty of strangling little Conor to death? In an emotionally gut wrenching episode, George defies his superiors and instead takes instruction from the victim's mother who has a surprising point of view on the crime. Can the justice system, and ultimately the government, afford to be lenient?

    Director: Andy Goddard

    Writer: Emilia di Girolamo

  • Help
    8.0/10139 votes
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    #7 - Help

    Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 3/7/2011

    The police investigate the murder of a former professional footballer, Robert Nichols, who is found lying beside his car bludgeoned to death. He was on his way to meet his sister and was apparently replacing a flat tire when the attack occurred. The only thing taken was his very expensive watch. They manage to trace a passerby, Mike Jones, who initially denies having seen anything but eventually admits he was helping Nichols fix his flat. The police are naturally suspicious and believe Jones may have been the perpetrator. In checking into Nichols's background however, they learn he was a big-time gambler and owed well-known mobster Don Marsh a quarter of a million pounds. Jones obviously has good reason to lie since he saw who killed Nichols but the mobster has made it clear that his life is in danger if he testifies.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Terry Cafolla, Dick Wolf

  • Skeletons
    8.0/10133 votes
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    #8 - Skeletons

    Season 4 Episode 6 - Aired 4/11/2011

    DS Devlin and DS Brooks investigate the murder of a 13 year-old boy boy, Sean Monroe, the son of a fellow police officer who was killed and put down a storm drain. A note found on the body points to the work of Andrew Dillon, who was sentenced for an earlier racial murder and is serving his sentence. The racial motivation for the killing seems confirmed when a second boy, Dev Desai, is found strangled with the same note in his pocket. However, their investigation leads to a security guard, Marcus Wright, who admits to having encounters with both boys at the shops where he works. He says the boys deaths were God's will and he was simply doing God's work. If Wright is to be believed, it means that Dillon was wrongfully convicted. The case becomes personal when James Steel is accused of having purposely buried a witness statement that would have likely exonerated Dillon. He finds himself in dock but the judge allows him to conduct his own defense.

    Director: Andy Goddard

    Writer: Dick Wolf

  • Fault Lines
    8.0/1097 votes
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    #9 - Fault Lines

    Season 6 Episode 7 - Aired 2/17/2012

    The frenzied stabbing of a police forensic lab technician unsettles the team in a way they never expected when Detective Sam Casey falls for the killer's next intended victim.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Buried
    7.9/10200 votes
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    #10 - Buried

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 3/23/2009

    The 20-year-old unsolved death of a young boy leads to the discovery of repressed memories, and a risky case for James and Alesha.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Catherine Tregenna

  • Honour Bound
    7.9/10152 votes
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    #11 - Honour Bound

    Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 2/15/2010

    A drug sting apparently goes bad resulting in the death of an informant. Devlin feeling something was not right about the situation digs into the past of the involved detective. Unfortunately this brings up a question of Brooks involvement in a drug theft from six years earlier.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Chris Chibnall

  • Hounded
    7.9/10131 votes
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    #12 - Hounded

    Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 9/16/2010

    When the body of a 16 year old girl is found dead in her home in the middle of the afternoon, the investigating police cannot be sure a crime was even committed. With no forensic evidence and nothing to suggest the victim didn't die of natural causes, Matt and Ronnie question why they have been called out in the first place. However, the mother's victim believes she was raped because she never slept naked. On further investigation, an unlikely murder weapon is uncovered and a likely suspect - someone with whom Crown Prosecutor James Steel has a history. Determined the accused is guilty, James pursues him with every power available. Like a man possessed, he pushes the boundaries of the law to the legal limit. Is our hero persecuting an innocent man or justified in his convictions?

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Catherine Tregenna

  • Survivor’s Guilt
    7.9/10121 votes
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    #13 - Survivor’s Guilt

    Season 6 Episode 1 - Aired 1/6/2012

    A drive-by shooting outside the Old Bailey leaves one police officer dead and another wounded in what appears to be a targeted attack on a witness in an attempted murder trial. However, Ronnie and the team are surprised to learn the gunman was specifically targeting police officers, believing his family victims of a police cover-up. The defense team argues their client has been subjected to racism by the police. Can Jake and Alesha convince the jury that the defendant ought to be tried as a murderer and not a victim?

    Director: Andy Goddard

    Writer: Emilia di Girolamo

  • Tremors
    7.9/1094 votes
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    #14 - Tremors

    Season 7 Episode 2 - Aired 7/21/2013

    When a person is found dead in the cells, Sam becomes the main suspect, leaving Ronnie and Wes facing a race against time for them to get their hands on the real culprit.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • I Predict a Riot
    7.9/1088 votes
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    #15 - I Predict a Riot

    Season 8 Episode 3 - Aired 3/26/2014

    When a car is pulled from a river with a skeleton in its boot the pathologist reckons both have been there for a quarter of a century and eventually the dead man is shown to be Taylor Kane, one of the first black undercover officers, who disappeared at the time of the Brixton riots.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Unsafe
    7.8/10197 votes
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    #16 - Unsafe

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 3/16/2009

    A convicted murderer who has been studying law inside is given the chance to appeal and chooses to represent himself in court against James Steel - his former prosecutor.

    Director: Andy Goddard

    Writer: Chris Chibnall

  • Alesha
    7.8/10191 votes
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    #17 - Alesha

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 4/6/2009

    With scant evidence James Steel and Alesha Phillips find themselves up against a tenacious barrister defending an eminent doctor accused of sexually assaulting a patient.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Hidden
    7.8/10159 votes
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    #18 - Hidden

    Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 1/18/2010

    Devlin and Brooks investigate the case of a 10 year-old girl, Jodie Gaines, who was kidnapped, and then found two weeks later dead, in a rubbish bin. A suspect is found but all is not as it seems.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Emilia di Girolamo

  • Sacrifice
    7.8/10147 votes
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    #19 - Sacrifice

    Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 2/1/2010

    A man found in a park, with his kidney stolen. It seems a respected doctor is involved. George Castle defends a friend in the case.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Terry Cafolla

  • Confession
    7.8/10131 votes
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    #20 - Confession

    Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 9/30/2010

    This week's case hits close to home for DS Matt Devlin when investigating the death of a police officer, and his best friend, PS Pete Garvey. Devlin and Garvey had known each other since childhood and when Matt discovers Pete had recently been in contact with their childhood parish priest Jonathan Nugent (Matthew Marsh), his suspicions are alerted as Pete claimed to have been sexually abused by him as a child. With nothing but suspicions and unfounded rumours to go on, a murder charge cannot be brought against Nugent. Now a married man with a family of his own, can Matt really be sure they've got the right man? James and Alesha take an unusual approach in order to bring a charge - any charge - against the accused in a desperate attempt to get the case home.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Terry Cafolla

  • Crush
    7.8/10105 votes
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    #21 - Crush

    Season 5 Episode 3 - Aired 7/24/2011

    Lying in a pool of blood, call girl Katka Cizek, seems to have only one admirer capable of her murder. A man with her on the night, a man without an alibi, a man with everything to lose were his secret obsession for her revealed. A seemingly cut and dry case, Alesha, given the reins to lead the cross-examination, begins to suspect someone has reason to frame the accused. Dogged in her pursuit of the truth, she unearths a betrayal of such enormity proving there are no winners in this case.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Intent
    7.8/10102 votes
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    #22 - Intent

    Season 5 Episode 5 - Aired 8/7/2011

    Stabbed to death while they slept, the killings of David and Elaine Lerner prove a mystery to DS Matt Devlin and DS Ronnie Brooks. Universally loved, there’s not a single lead that points to grievances held or enemies made. The previous owner of the house soon emerges as a much more likely target for attack - Camilla Mallon, a banker embroiled in a hedge fund scandal. Could the brutal murders be a case of mistaken identity? As our Crown Prosecutors navigate this seemingly senseless crime, Jake’s old mentor, Margaret Rumsfield argues the accused should face only manslaughter charges. Without motive, without intent, can our heroes make a murder charge stick?

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Customs
    7.8/1085 votes
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    #23 - Customs

    Season 8 Episode 5 - Aired 4/9/2014

    The body of elderly businesswoman Ranya Habib is found at a suicide spot but foul play is suspected after a neighbour tells Ronnie he heard her arguing with somebody.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Vice
    7.7/10205 votes
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    #24 - Vice

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 3/9/2009

    When a former vice cop is discovered beaten to death in an underpass, DS Ronnie Brooks and DS Matt Devlin find their investigation going in unexpected directions.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Chris Chibnall

  • Defence
    7.7/10135 votes
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    #25 - Defence

    Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 9/23/2010

    When three people are brutally murdered in a shop in central London and a fourth left for dead, Matt and Ronnie are up against the clock to find the killer who they fear could strike again at any moment. The nature of the attack was frenzied and brutal with the killer using a bayonet to slay his victims. With this information and a photofit, Matt and Ronnie are quickly must identify the killer before they strike again. James assumes a straightforward case ahead of him. However, things take an unexpected turn when he learns that the defendant has brilliant legal support. With the case for defence looking very strong, James' only hope is to convince a deluded defendant to accept responsibility for his crimes.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A