List of Law & Order: UK characters

Current characters

London Metropolitan Police

Ronnie Brooks

• Portrayed by Bradley Walsh.
• Episodes: "Care" - present

Lively and loveable, Ronnie Brooks is the man you'd want to give your daughter away if you were indisposed. Ronnie adores his job. He's a copper's copper. A reminder of another era of London policing; an era Ronnie's determined to keep going. He knows every nook and cranny of the city. When he's off duty, he can be found playing snooker, or watching West Ham (he's been a season ticket holder for 35 years).

Anglican by upbringing, Ronnie's a humanist by experience. A proper old-school East End gentleman who understands the complexities of life and death. Ronnie uses his laconic wit to cover the reality of too many dead bodies and disappointments. A recovering alcoholic, Ronnie drank his way through two marriages and the distancing of two daughters. Although he typically shrugs it off, Ronnie's feelings of guilt are transparent. He now lives alone.

His genuine insight into the human condition, makes him a brilliant interrogator and reader of people. He is socially liberal, a man of great tolerance: but he's also a realist about life. Ronnie's a force for good - and everyone who has ever worked with him adores him. He loves working with Matt. Ronnie sees Matt as a bit of a surrogate son, best friend and confidante.

Ronnie Brooks would appear to be based on the character Lennie Briscoe from the original Law & Order series. Both characters have two ex-wives, are estranged from their daughters & are recovering alcoholics.

Matt Devlin

• Portrayed by Jamie Bamber.
• Episodes: "Care" - present

DS Ronnie Brooks' younger and more impulsive partner, friend, and surrogate son. He sincerely looks up to Brooks but takes a more aggressive and black-and-white stand on their cases. Matt is from an Irish-Catholic family in Kilburn. Cheeky and charming, Matt's policing instinct is second to none. In equal parts a force to be reckoned with and a good-looking playboy, Matt brings energy and optimism to the partnership.

Devlin has a romanticized idea of policing and absolutely loves his job and believes in what he does. Despite rejecting the "absolutism" of his upbringing, he still has a black-and-white view of the law: people are either innocent or guilty. Hardworking, efficient and thorough, Matt has a traditional view of the law: but he'll also push past the rule of procedure when he feels his cause is just. He has little sympathy for people who commit crimes, whatever their circumstances might have been.

Inseparable now for five years, Matt and Ronnie are mischievous when they are together: each recognises the twinkle in the other's eye and they're known at the station as Morecambe and Wise.

Natalie Chandler

• Portrayed by Harriet Walter.
• Episodes: "Care" - present

Brooks and Devlin's boss - Her job is to push her detectives, making sure they stay within the lines of propriety and to play devil's advocate to their investigations. Chandler is a great boss and a good people person. She leaves no uncertainty about who is in charge but she's fiercely loyal to Ronnie and Matt. As a working mum, Natalie knows how to motivate and how to discipline them and is always fair and focused.

Chandler also brings a sympathy and softer side to her detectives, considering their families even when they don't. Despite maintaining her emotionality, Chandler will be the one bastion of objectivity when all others cannot. She's able to be dispassionate when all around her are losing their heads.

Natalie has a huge heart and is extraordinarily empathetic - but she knows how and when to switch that off, for the good of the job and for the benefit of good, impartial police work.

Crown Prosecution Service

Jacob Thorne

• Portrayed by Dominic Rowan.
• Episodes: "[Series 5-]" -

The new Senior Crown Prosecutor who takes over from James Steel, Jacob Thorne is a working class hero who helps the team in their fight for justice.

Alesha Phillips

• Portrayed by Freema Agyeman.
• Episodes: "Care" - present

The young, beautiful and compassionate Alesha works as a Junior Crown Prosecutor on the Crown Prosecution Service, and works closley alongside James Steel as his assistant and bridging the gap between the police and the CPS.

Phillips grew up on a council estate in Hackney, with her single mother and attended university on scholarships and hard work. After being rejected from four different law firms, Phillips became worried about whether it was because of her credentials, or because she was a black woman from a poor neighbourhood. Definitively on the side of the disadvantaged and the underdog, her background gives her an insight into how legal issues play out at street level. Unlike James, Alesha understands that desperate circumstances can shape people's lives and that the truth is murky, complex and sometimes unhelpful. Phillips brings the empathy and shades of gray to her working relationship with Steel. Alesha's mission is to give a voice to the disenfranchised, the people who are rarely heard. She's not afraid to speak her mind, even when it gets her in trouble. She has a ferocious intellect, allied with enormous passion.

While Phillips works as a crown prosecutor, because she trained as a solicitor, her title is "solicitor advocate"; as such, she doesn't wear the wig, because she didn't train as a barrister.

Henry Sharpe

• Portrayed by Peter Davison.
• Episodes: "[Series 5-]" -

Down-to-earth Henry Sharpe takes over the job of Director of the CPS - previously held by George Castle.

Former characters

Crown Prosecution Service

James Steel

• Portrayed by Ben Daniels.
• Episodes: "Care" - "Skeletons"

James Steel is the senior crown prosecutor and partner of Alesha Phillips. He is a born barrister: clear, precise and focused. James's mission is to discover the truth of each case by sifting through the conflicting realities of witnesses, victims and suspects to make sure justice is done.

Prior to his eight years with the CPS, Steel was a defence barrister; but the coincidence of a three-time [...]'s case, who James successfully defended even though he felt sure his client was lying, and the birth of his first child changed his outlook on life, and after that day, he promised himself he'd never help a guilty man go free again. He then defected to the Crown Prosecution Service. He has wizened with age and his ability as a CPS Officer has grown with experience.

James is principled and decent and refuses to compromise. He takes the law personally and lives his cases 24 hours a day - a reason his marriage was short-lived as his new passion for the other side of the law consumed his life, alienating him from his family until his wife left for Edinburgh with his son, so his work now fills the hole that his family left.

James resigns at the end of the Skeletons episode from the Crown Prosecution Service.

George Castle

• Portrayed by Bill Paterson.
• Episodes: "Care" - "Skeletons"

The former Director of London Crown Prosecution Service Castle ran his office with an iron hand, keeping the pressure on Steel and Phillips, of whom he was fiercely protective. His office is respite for James and Alesha from the front lines of the legal wars with the defense.

Castle is a shrewd political operator with a brilliant understanding of how the legal ramifications of a case go beyond the innocence or guilt of a particular defendant. George plied his trade as an independent barrister - working both prosecution and defence cases - before being snapped up by the CPS in 1990 when he was at the top of his profession. He is driven by a sense of justice and it was considered a coup for the CPS to get him.

George is fiercely protective of Alesha and James but he'll always make the tough decision when necessary. He can cut to the heart of a case in seconds and is always able to put a counter-argument to whatever position someone else is taking.

George Castle has recently been appointed Director of Public Prosecutions, with Henry Sharpe taking over the job of Director of the CPS.

Recurring characters

• Jessica Gunning as Computer Records and Researcher Angela (Season 1-)
• Tariq Jordan as Forensic Technician Teddy (Season 1-)

Scenes of Crime Officer

• Nicola Sanderson as Scenes of Crime Officer (SOCO) Joy Ackroyd (Season 1-)
• Alexander Perkins as Scenes of Crime Officer (SOCO) Pete (Season 1-)

Coronors/Pathologists

• Nicholas Blane as Coronor/Pathologist Oswald Spear (Seasons 1-2)
• Hazel Ellerby as Coronor/Pathologist Heather (Seasons 3-)

Psychiatrists/Psychologists

• Nimmy March as Psychiatrist/Psychologist Doctor Elizabeth Rawls (Season 1)
• George Anton as Psychiatrist/Psychologist Doctor Roddy Armitage (Season 3-)

Defence Barristers & Solicitors

• Patrick Malahide as Defence Barrister Robert Ridley QC (Seasons 1-)
• Louise Howells as Defence Barrister Anna Shorofsky (Seasons 1-2)
• Dervla Kirwan as Defence Barrister Beatrice McArdle (Seasons 1-2)
• Lesley Manville as Defence Barrister Phyllis Gladstone (Season 1)
• Colin Salmon as Defence Barrister Doug Greer (Seasons 1-2)
• Charles Kay as Defence Barrister St John Artemis (Seasons 1-2)
• Eddie Marsan as Defence Barrister Jason Peters (Seasons 2-)
• Anna Chancellor as Defence Barrister Evelyn Wyndham (Seasons 2-)

Judges

• Gillian McCutcheon as Judge Margaret Blake (Seasons 1-)
• Paul Darrow as Judge Prentice (Seasons 1-)
• Cyril Nri as Judge Demarco (Seasons 1-2)
• John Rowe as Judge Silverton (Seasons 1-2)
• Crispin Redman as Judge Rory Richards (Seasons 3-)

Directors of Public Prosecutions

• Isla Blair as Director of Public Prosecutions Carla Hopley (Seasons 3-4)
• Bill Paterson as Director of Public Prosecutions George Castle (Seasons 5-)