Paul Rutman’s crime writing is strongest when an investigation exposes the detectives’ own assumptions. We recommend Criminal Record for its uneasy encounters, while Vera reminds us that even good company needs a persuasive case.
Fi1m perspective
In Criminal Record (2024), race and gender affect how detectives treat each other and how much confidence we have in the people investigating the crime. Lenker offers some reassurance, but the writing is careful about how far that should go. We found Hegarty unsettling, because Peter Capaldi makes him compelling without settling our doubts about him. The series is strongest when those doubts extend to the police organisation, giving us something to consider beyond the trustworthiness of the officer immediately in front of us.
Rutman wrote for established crime programmes including Inspector Lewis (2008–2009) and Vera (2011–2014). Creating Indian Summers (2015–2016) took him into historical drama, before the thriller Next of Kin (2018). With Criminal Record, he returned to detectives, this time as the series’ creator. We find his writing particularly persuasive here because institutional racism affects our judgement of the officers and their dealings with each other, rather than being a subject the programme raises and then sets aside.
Our reservations about Vera (2011) are more straightforward. Brenda Blethyn’s awkward detective is company worth keeping, but the investigations can drag, and the opening murder story demands more belief than its plotting earns. That is a reservation about the programme, not a charge we can lay at Rutman’s door: Gaby Chiappe is also among the credited writers, and the credits do not tell us who made each decision. We recommend it for Blethyn, with patience for the cases and some frustration that the supporting cast gets too little to do.
The praise needs sharing on Criminal Record, too: Thomas Eccleshare, Natasha Narayan and Ameir Brown are credited alongside Rutman as writers. Capaldi and Cush Jumbo make the central contest tense enough to hold our attention even when secondary stories weaken the pressure, and the writing gives their characters reasons to remain difficult to assess. For an introduction to Rutman, start there, allowing for the detours.
Biography
Paul Rutman is a British television writer and producer. He created and wrote the historical drama series Indian Summers (2015–2016) and the crime thriller Criminal Record (2024), the latter starring Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo.
Rutman has written multiple episodes of the ITV crime series Vera (2011–2014) and contributed scripts to Agatha Christie's Marple (2009–2010), Inspector Lewis (2008–2009), New Tricks (2008) and other series. He co-created the ITV drama Next of Kin (2018). He has received BAFTA TV Award nominations, including for the serial Five Days (2007).
