Anyone who experienced even a couple of episodes of Peter Capaldi‘s stint as the titular Time Lord in Doctor Who could tell you how great an actor he is. Capaldi took a sci-fi series that is fundamentally family-friendly about traveling through time and space and sprinkled it with the veteran instincts of an experienced performer, becoming many people’s favorite actor to take on the role in its over 60-year history. You need only watch the episode “Heaven Sent,” which features Capaldi almost entirely on his own, monologuing his way through grief, to see his genius at work.
With that in mind, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that any project starring the great actor could return a stunning critical and audience reception. This is exactly what happened with the first season of Apple TV’s British thriller, Criminal Record. Created by Paul Rutman, eight episodes of this twisting drama landed on the streamer back in early 2024, scoring a 95% rating from critics on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Earlier this week, Cush Jumbo‘sDetective Sergeant June Lenker and Capaldi’s Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Hegarty returned to the series in a long-awaited Season 2, as Episode 1, “Is It Him?” premiered on Apple TV. Directed by Ben A. Williams and penned by Rutman, the episode saw Jumbo and Capaldi return and not miss a beat, as another hunt for justice begins. But what are critics saying about Season 2? Quite remarkably, this second season has already outperformed the near-perfect Season 1.On Rotten Tomatoes,Criminal Record Season 2 boasts a perfect 100% score.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
Advertisement
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
Advertisement
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
Advertisement
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
Advertisement
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
Advertisement
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
Advertisement
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
Advertisement
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
Advertisement
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
Advertisement
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
Advertisement
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
Advertisement
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Advertisement
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Advertisement
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Advertisement
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
Advertisement
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Advertisement
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
Advertisement
What Have Critics Said About ‘Criminal Record’ Season 2?
With its perfect 100% score, albeit from just five reviews thus far, Criminal Record is earning gushing praise from a variety of sites. For The Guardian, Sarah Dempster praised the show’s “relatively straightforward and beautifully paced storytelling,” adding, “its narrative twists emerging like handkerchiefs from a sleeve.” Digital Spy’s Lacy Baugher was similarly positive, praising “a darker and more ambitious outing” than Season 1. This thought was shared by Fandom Wire’s Richard Valero, who wrote, “If you were a fan of Criminal Record season 1, you are in for an absolute treat with an even better second season.”
Advertisement
Criminal Record is available to stream on Apple TV. Stay tuned to Collider for more streaming stories.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login