What America has learned of the UK justice system from UK Law & Order

[Video Link]. "It's like OUR Law & Order—just more British."

Created for BBC America by Joe Sabia, whose work we've featured on Boing Boing, and on Boing Boing Video's Virgin America in-flight channel.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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JamesMason

If “knackers” = testicles, then what does “knackered” mean? I always took it from context to mean tired. But this newfound knowledge changes things dramatically!
- knoxblox
  
  Hmmm…teabagged, maybe?
- Brainspore
  
  As in, “Boy, I’m knackered. Last night I met this hottie with incredible knockers and it wasn’t long before I was on my knees with my knockwurst in her knickers, if you know what I mean. I just hope she doesn’t get knocked up or my wife will take a knife to my knackers.”
  - Ugly Canuck
    
    Yes indeed, “knackered = tired”, but I also have heard this usage: “knackers = slaughterhouse”, ie, “Send that old mare to the knackers”. Perhaps these uses are related.
    
    OTOH, come to think on it, I have not heard that “knackers = testicles”, except above on this thread.
    
    So I can’t really vouch for its accuracy.
    - grandvache
      
      brit and londoner, Knackers absolutely = testicles/balls/’nads/bollocks. Knackers can also be short for a knackers yard or slaughterhouse where your horse might become dogfood.
  - Ugly Canuck
    
    Ah, thanks for the example.
    
    Too bad your name isn’t “Knut”…or is it?
    - Brainspore
      
      Kno it’s knot.
- Anonymous
  
  ‘knackered’ does mean tired but ‘knackers’ is also slang for testicles.
  
  different meanings altogether even tho the words are fairly similar :P
- danegeld
  
  “knackered” is a term used to describe an old horse that’s no longer fit for pulling ploughs or for working on a farm. The knacker’s yard is where knackered horses are sent to be made into glue. It generally means tired and unable to do anything.
  
  “Knackers” plural, present tense are your bollocks / balls / testicles. – if you’re hit in your knackers then you’d be knackered.
Ari B.

I’m just waiting for Detective Munch to show up. He’s been on every other L&O, including the French version.

Bonus fun-fact, former Doctor Who Peter Davison will be joining L&O:UK for their forthcoming fifth season.
Ian Irving

Someone should do a “What the UK has learned of the America justice system from Law & Order”!
rdi

British encompasses Scots and (debatably) Irish…did you mean “can’t really picture an English person being that wound up and angry”? Consider Clive Owen, or Ben Kingsley’s character from Sexy Beast.
vonacle

Thanks Cynical for the etymology! I’d always known that Knackered does mean tired out, and it does sometimes have a sexual connotation, so good to find out why. Confusingly, “knackers” “bollocks” and even “wedding tackle” all refer to testicles!
Incidenally, this business of a UK version of a US show is less common that the US version of a UK show phenomenon.
For instance, did you know even “All in the Family” was not original? It was a UK show called “Till Death Us Do Part” which ran for years and ended in a spinoff called “In Sickness and in Health”. “Sanford and Son” came from a British show called “Steptoe and Son” etc.
The Office is the most recent example of this US reworking of UK shows. But there will be more!
Apparently there is soon to be a US version of the UK’s long-running “Shameless” set in Chicago instead of Manchester and starring William H Macy (The only difference between then and now seems to be that now they keep the name of the show the same – so we are aware one of them has to be a rip-off! Don’t get me wrong, I like rip-offs, why not rip off a good idea?
The UK newspaper “The Guardian” calls the new show it “remarkably faithful”. http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/jan/07/shameless-remake-us-tv-debut
Dunno. Might be worth a look.
Anonymous

Knackered is now commonly used to mean sexually exhausted
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Why would you have a UK slang term for something that only happens in other countries?
Ugly Canuck

For those curious to know more about vindaloo, an image showing the post-vindaloo experience:

http://image.spreadshirt.net/image-server/image/composition/10227945/view/1/producttypecolor/1/type/png/width/378/height/378/white-vin-da-loo-organic-products_design.png

Now you know.
Anonymous

http://www.londonslang.com/
alxr

It’s true that TV vomit can be problematic. It’s even spreading beyond the Anglosphere â€“ just look at Sweden.
astrochimp

I learned that police can arrest suspects without using guns. Every. Single. Time.

I’m still surprised.
- alxr
  
  Not entirely true in real life, but armed police are still very uncommon here, to the point that I double-take when I see them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_use_of_firearms_in_the_United_Kingdom
  - Matt J
    
    I’ve never seen an armed police officer except at an airport.
    - SteveNZ
      
      Really? When I lived in England mounted police (generally used for crowd control but sometimes on the street just for exercise or something) all had a holstered pistol attached to their saddle. Apparently if the horse broke a leg they were expected to shoot it.
  - Ugly Canuck
    
    Where the populace is unarmed, there is much less reason or need for the police forces to be armed.
- Michael Smith
  
  I learned that police can arrest suspects without using guns. Every. Single. Time.
  
  No, not every time.
SonOfSamSeaborn

I’ve never seen it, and way prefer US legal dramas (here’s hoping I never get arrested because I know bugger all about the UK system), but Elderly Julian Assange fucking killed me.

My contribution to the “knackers” discussion is that I’ve never heard it used to describe balls. ‘Nads, yes, but not knackers. But then contextually pretty much anything can sound about right.
Anonymous

Grouse!

ps: Captcha = chopinat prejudices
Cynical

Further to the “knackered” comments, it actually has an old meaning of “tired after sex”. The idea is that after a racehorse has finished racing, it is put out to seed (made to breed to make new racehorses) and when it is no longer capable of doing that, it is “knackered”; i.e. sent to the knacker’s yard and boiled down for glue.

From that meaning we have the multiple meanings of “tired”, “broken”, “incapable of fulfilling purpose” and still, although the meaning is almost entirely archaic now, “tired after sex”.
- Anonymous
  
  Here is my wig question: why is the black lady prosecutor the only one who doesn’t weart a wig in court? Also, I am fascinated that she wears shirtwaist dresses and sweaters, instead of a tailored power suit to the office. She looks like a shop assistant instead of a DA.
tw15

Judges in the High Courts and above do wear wigs. Most of them are male and bald, so the feeling is they’d look really silly if they didn’t have the wig on top of their head.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  What if you have long, curly hair? Could you tie it back and skip the wig?
  - tw15
    
    I was joking
theLadyfingers

My Dad had a joke about a eunuch mass choir from Calcutta.

The Indian Knackerless 500.
Anonymous

As if all that wasn’t enough you can also call someone a knacker as a general low-level insult.

And it’s a play on all these meanings that leads Private Eye to refer to senior police officers as ‘Knacker of the Yard’.
planettom

And when a Brit tells you he’s going to knock you up in the morning… it’s going to be much less interesting than it sounds!
Anonymous

that was bloody brilliant
Guysmiley

Not one mention of their cops also being space fighter pilots? I am disappointed.
Anonymous

Knackers means pants? What a load of ballox!
spejic

I’ve been watching the show on my OnDemand thing that comes with my cable. I thought they should name the show “Law and Order:They Always Run” because foot chases were so prominent. I’m surprised they didn’t make fun of that in the video.
Marcelo

As someone who spent a few years working on the American L&O franchise as a sound editor, this warmed the cockles of my heart. Thank you.
- knoxblox
  
  Please tell me you’re responsible for the “bong, bong” that opens every new scene.
  - Marcelo
    
    Sadly no, that’s technically a music cue so it is separate from sound effects. Fun fact – the official name is the “ching ching.”
Simon Bradshaw

Anon @80:

She’s meant to be a solicitor-advocate rather than a barrister. England has traditionally had a split legal profession, with barristers doing trial advocacy, and solicitors handling clients and casework. Solicitors would attend court, but in all but the lowest level of courts (Magistrates’ Courts) a barrister would do all the talking in front of the judge. Barristers have work wigs and gowns since the 1700s and it’s required dress for us in most senior courts.

Since the 1990s though the two branches of the legal profession have been overlapping more, with solicitors being allowed to qualify to act directly in higher courts; when they do, they’re called solicitor-advocates. As of 2008, solicitor-advocates appearing in a court where a barrister would have to wear a wig and gown will wear a gown but have the option of wearing a wig. (They’re very expensive – mine was Â£500!) Freema’s character presumably has not opted to do so and I suspect the writers have made this decision to differentiate her from the character who is a barrister.

As for style of clothing generally, I think it’s a working culture issue. Bear in mind that the Crown Prosecution Service is an employed branch of government, not a private law firm.
Anonymous

I’ve learned that CCTV cameras can solve any crime.
Anonymous

Bloody excellent.

Though I must point out:

knackers = testicles

Clem
Anonymous

Another interesting foreign take on the police procedural is Water Rats from Australia.
Anonymous

Knackered does mean exhausted, but can also mean broken, as in ‘the can opener is knackered’ and can be used as a verb as well – to knacker = to break.
RadioSilence

1:28 knackers = testicles, not pants
and baubles can mean trinkets, but more commonly, and in this case certainly, refers to ball-shaped christmas tree ornaments.
- Ugly Canuck
  
  Knickers ain’t knackers, then?
  Blimey!
Anonymous

err…..knackers does not mean pants. Knickers are panties or knackered means worn out.
Anonymous

1:28 Knackers does most definitely not = pants, though they are held within them.
RadioSilence

blimey indeed!
sapere_aude

Funny video.

I’ve been wanting to watch Law & Order: UK for quite a while now (even though I’m not a fan of any of the American versions of the show), mainly because I have an interest in Anglo-American comparative law; but also because I have really enjoyed other British police dramas (like Prime Suspect and Inspector Lynley), and usually prefer them to American cop shows. Unfortunately, I don’t have BBC America; and the last time I looked, I wasn’t able to find full episodes of Law & Order: UK online. Thanks for reminding me about this show. I’ll have to do another search for full episodes online.
- Anonymous
  
  Try looking for a show called ‘The Bill’. It just ended a 25 year run and was one heck of a good show.
  - sapere_aude
    
    Thanks. I will.
  - SonOfSamSeaborn
    
    The Bill ended?!
    
    Meh.
Pretzel

While I like the show, unfortunately, it IS Law & Order. I mean, it’s the same episodes! They rewrite them to be more English and change the names, but I’m still stuck knowing what’s going to happen as soon as I hear how the person died.
- PFlint
  
  Thanks for that info. I was interested in someday watching L&O UK, but not anymore. Is there a Lenny counterpart? Are his lines just as snappy? Do they ever go “upstate” (UK=?) or take the “LIE” (UK=?)?
Anonymous

Glad to see this kinda jokey YouTube-y stuff is getting onto flights! Plus, there’s a double rainbow reference, all the way!
- nanite2000
  
  Double. Rainbow.
bcsizemo

Can I get a Law & Order: SVU UK?

I want to see they would get to play Benson and Stabler.

Might need someone Irish or Scottish to play Stabler…I can’t really picture a British person being that wound up and angry sometimes…well maybe Jason Statham.
karl_jones

If I understand correctly:

“Plastoid” in the UK, “Band-Aid” in the US.

“Skiver” in the UK, “Slacker” (or “Shirker”) in the US.

“That brown stuff” in the UK, “Food” in the US.
- MrFox
  
  “That brown stuff” is far more likely to be heroin than food, although walking into a pre-gastro pub you might be forgiven for the confusion.
  - Ugly Canuck
    
    “That brown stuff” = vindaloo
    
    See here for a photo:
    
    http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-beef-vindaloo-3-image3012977
    
    nom nom nom
- digithed
  
  Plastoid???
  
  I think you mean plaster (or even more formally ‘sticking plaster’).
  - Znaps
    
    Or sometimes, Elastoplast.
- turn_self_off
  
  Well my understanding of skiv is a thin stabbing weapons, go fig…
  - Anonymous
    
    that would be a shiv, an improvised stabbing weapon. Skiv, or skive, is the act of skiving or slacking off
  - Ugly Canuck
    
    You mean “shiv”.
    - Ugly Canuck
      
      Not to be confused with “spiv”, which I take to mean “gangster” – but I’m not entirely sure about that equivalence.
- Ugly Canuck
  
  “plastoid”? Or just “plaster”?
  
  I think “wanker = jerk”.
  - Anonymous
    
    Wank = Jerk off
    Wanker = one who wanks
    (though I may be misinformed)
- Anonymous
  
  stapler is irish lol…
Neon Tooth

Geez how could a semi-curious person not know what all those words mean? A couple are used (with the same meaning) in American English as well. Anyway, I like the idea of Martha Jones and Apollo being a team……

Funny how there seems to be a revolving number of actors that are in every British show.
- mdh
  
  Martha Jones and Apollo, exactly. It’s a pretty good show. Much of the BBCA lineup doesn’t suck.
- Anonymous
  
  “Funny how there seems to be a revolving number of actors that are in every British show.”
  
  You should take a close look at the cast of the US Law and Orders and match them up against any drama shot in NY in the past five years. Matching OZ (HBO) up against the NY-based Laws and Orders is a good place to start.
- Tim
  
  “Funny how there seems to be a revolving number of actors that are in every British show.”
  
  You should take a close look at the cast of the US Law and Orders and match them up against any drama shot in NY in the past five years. Matching OZ (HBO) up against the NY-based Laws and Orders is a good place to start.
bartash

Oh Freema, you skipped being in Torchwood to do this?
Brainspore

Ooh, that gives me an idea for a new legal drama: “Rumpole of the American Bar Association.”
- george57l
  
  Just nearly spurted tea over my laptop. The mind boggles.
  
  You win the (British) internet for today!
Rosin

All the TV VOMIT in your Anglo-societies is pure nausea! And it’s becoming global.
Everything is done by formulas.
Zero passion.
Zero originality.
Zero genuine magic and poetry.
Zero subversive & freedom message.
Lot’s of BLUE & BROWN colours.

The anglo way: death of diversity.

FUCK YOU for your cynical indifference (if not addiction) to this stink insures its perpetuation.
- mdh
  
  cue yakktiy sax
- Lyle Hopwood
  
  Excellent parody of a paranoid schizophrenic posting!
  
  Uh, that was a parody, wasn’t it? If not, could you just check with a doctor that you’re ok? thx.
- gths
  
  Hey at least it’s not Inspector Rex.
Cazart

No one will EVER top Robot Chicken’s take. Bock!
http://video.adultswim.com/robot-chicken/law-order-kfc.html
ackpht

I, for one, welcome our new global Anglo TV vomit overlords.
pidg

to wank = to masturbate.

to skive = to shirk off, yes.

a spiv is a derogatory term for a chancer who makes his money with dubious schemes.
Blue

As has been said, knickers do not equal knackers (which are testicles) however, knickers = crackers, as in ‘under-crackers’.

Yes, we just make this shit up as we go along.
knoxblox

I find I like this as much as the U.S. version, especially Bradley Walsh, who IMHO is as good as Jerry Orbach was.

Some good moments include Jason Peters as the obsessive compulsive prosecutor who’s awfully afraid of germs.

The bad moments include the fact that the killer is STILL the first or second person questioned within the first ten minutes of the show.
Anonymous

I could be wrong, but “Created for BBC America by Joe Sabia” … I’m pretty sure it was created for the ACTUAL BBC and just ported to BBC America …

I don;t see it as being made for an american audience …
PeterK

The font used for the translation text is Albertus which was used on “The Prisoner” How appropriate for a video about Law and Order.
Pappygold

The discussion of the meanings of ‘wanker’ and ‘knackered’ has made me laugh!
A bit of Scottish pedantry, however; the show may give insight, but into the English rather than ‘UK’ justice system. There is no universal judicial system for the UK as a whole – Scotland has always had an independent legal, ecclesiastical and educational system from our southern neighbours.
Such unnecessary meticulousness is truly the mark of a grade A wanker.