Lawless is a two-part British television thriller miniseries, first broadcast on ITV on 8 and 9 November 2004.
An early credit for screenwriter Chris Lang, perhaps best known for his long-running series Unforgotten, Lawless follows the story of DI John Paxton, who ends up on the run after a murderer walks free from court because of a legal technicality, which in turn results in the death of his beloved boss and best friend.
The series was directed by Roger Gartland and starred Trevor Eve, Orla Brady and David Calder.
Contents
Production
The series was one of two projects commissioned by ITV in 2003 written by Lang, with the other being Amnesia, starring John Hannah.
Trevor Eve said of his role in the series; "In one scene I had to drag myself out of the Tyne. They'd [the producers] selected a particularly filthy dockside for the purpose, so that wasn't particularly enjoyable. I have to say the novelty of stunts and things like that has gone for me. The driving, I like. I did a lot of the driving stunts myself and there's a lot of racing around Newcastle. But the jumping off the bridge – the stuntman did that one!
The beard comes off in a vain attempt to not look like the person the police are looking for. I didn't really grow the beard for a part, but I did Troy last year and when I got back to the UK, I literally went straight on to set and they started to shave off the beard, but then realised that underneath my skin was white – whereas the rest of my face was quite tanned. So we decided to keep it rather than have to wear loads of make-up. I hate shaving anyway, so I'm glad it's proved a popular look."
Reception
Lawless achieved credible viewing figures, with the first part watched by 7.17 million, and the second by 5.65 million.
Cast
Trevor Eve as DI John Paxton
David Calder as DCI Pete Chambers
Orla Brady as DC Liz Bird
Ralph Brown as DC Phil Howell
Darrell D'Silva as DC Mark Easton
Tracy Gillman as DC Amy Graves
Dermot Crowley as DCI Bob Allard
Paul Brennen as Det. Supt. Jack Harris
Jacqueline King as Kate Chambers
Michael Hodgson as Sean Kinney
Christopher Connel as Patrick Kinney
Danielle Lydon as Louise Paxton