Law & Order: UK

8.30pm Friday August 26 on Ten

Season 2, Episode 3

When a shop owner and his customers are brutally slain in the middle of the day the investigation soon leads to a homeless schizophrenic man. However, what seems like a straightforward case soon takes a twist when it is revealed that the homeless man is an Oxford graduate with a law degree- who chooses to represent himself.

Ten in crisis.

Seems that five episodes of various Law & Order franchises each week was not a good idea afterall. Who would have thought…

Ratings lately have been so low for Ten, they are close to that of ABC1, and even below ABC1 as was the case last night when Ten was fourth in both main channel shares and network shares.

Ten keep trying to compensate by making last minute programming changes. The latest round of changes sees Law and Order and Law and Order: UK out of Friday night, and Law and Order: SVU out of next Thursday night (September 1) in favour for a double premiere episode of Rush.

This Friday night, August 26, the movie Australia plays from 8.30pm with the Can of Worms encore at midnight.

Then next Thursday (September 1), the premiere of Rush moves to 8.30pm and airs as a two hour double episode. As a result, Law & Order: SVU is out on Thursday night.

Seven also have pushed back their Law & Order: LA that airs on Thursday night to 11pm, after the movie The Proposal.

All these changes as a result of too many Law & Orders spread over the channels. The brand becomes diluted and ratings dive. No Law & Order episode reach much more than 600,000 now - SVU perhaps has been the best performer. Law & Order: CI last Monday was close to 400,000. The Friday night episodes just as low. 

The finale of season three of Masterchef Australia airs on Ten Sunday August 7, 2011.

As Masterchef concludes, Ten’s new reality competition series The Renovators will fill the timeslot voids the cooking show vacates.

On Sunday August 7, Masterchef airs at both 6.30pm and 8.30pm, with The Renovators sandwiched in between at 7.30pm.

Masterchef at 6.30pm sees the final two contestants enter the kitchen for the final food fight. Three epic challenges stand between them and being crowned Australia’s Masterchef for 2011.

On The Renovators at 7.30pm, one team’s head renovator has been eliminated which means there is now a new set of keys up for grabs. To be in the running, contestants must first lay a brick wall, then win another white room challenge.

Then, at 8.30pm, it is Masterchef Australia The Winner Announced. The judges have cast their votes and the 2011 winner of Masterchef Australia will be announced during this one hour final instalment.

Following on, soon after 9.30pm is a 5 minute first look at Ten’s new series, The Class of 2011, which will premiere on Ten in coming weeks.

Then at around 9.40pm is the movie Tropic Thunder.

The rest of the week looks like this:

Monday August 8.
7.30pm The Reonovators
8.30pm Can Of Worms
9.30pm Law and Order: Criminal Intent (new)

Tuesday August 9.
7.30 The Renovators
8.00 Modern Family – NEW episode
8.30 NCIS repeat
9.30pm NCIS: LA repeat

Wednesday August 10.
7.30 The Renovators
8.30 Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation – new episode, new time, season return
9.30 The Defenders continues

Thursday August 11.
7.30 The Renovators
8.00 Modern Family (repeat)
8.30 Law & Order: SVU – new episode
9.30 Law & Order: SVU – repeat

Friday August 12.
7.30 The Renovators: How to (which is basically the Masterclass of The Renovators)
8.30 Law & Order: UK – season premiere
9.30 Law & Order – season return

Ten have reacted swiftly to their abysmal Monday night ratings, which saw the network result in shares close to half of what Seven and Nine achieved.

As of next week, Undercover Boss will move to Friday nights at 8.30pm, leaving its Monday night timeslot to be replaced by new episodes of NCIS. That will mean, for now, anyway, there will be TWO new NCIS episodes per week – Monday at 8.30 and Tuesday at 8.30.

The Monday (Feb 14) episode is actually the one that follows the NCIS set air on Tuesday (why not leave them in order?) called Ships In the Night (S8E11). Tuesday (Feb 15) nights’ is False Witness (S8E10).

That aside, this change also means the planned season returns of Law & Order UK and Medium for Friday Feb 18 are now out.

Friday, from Feb 18, now has Undercover Boss at 8.30pm (Norwegian Cruise Line) and Law & Order at 9.30 (Memo From the Dark Side) S20E1 – season premiere.

Ten will be hoping that NCIS on Monday at 8.30 will be able to pull close to the over 1.4 million it achieves on Tuesdays – thereby giving Nine’s Underbelly Files and Seven’s Bones – which also now airs on two nights a week – a run for their money.

My guess is, that Ten will only do the Monday night NCIS episode while Nine has Underbelly Files on – they can only show two episodes of NCIS per week for a few weeks until we catch up with where the US are up to.

Better hope Ten are swift to promote the new Monday night NCIS episode, as people will not notice it is on.

Some more first run content returning to Ten in coming weeks.

On Tuesday February 15, at 9.30pm, will be the season premiere of Lie To Me, with an episode called In The Red.

Cal goes to great lengths to prevent a man, fuelled by revenge, from robbing a bank and in the process, is given the opportunity to right a wrong by holding a guilty man accountable for his actions.

On Friday February 18, at 8.30pm, is the season return of Law and Order: UK, with an episode called Samaritan.

A young police officer is killed when he responds to an emergency call and inadvertently gets involved in a shoot out with a drug dealer.

Then, at 9.30pm Friday Feb 18, is the season return of Medium – Means to An End.

Allison starts having recurring dreams about Detective Scanlon and his dead brother. Meanwhile, Ariel is up in the wee hours of the night searching for her mysterious college roommate.

And – Queensland viewers, don’t forget that the season return of House – scheduled for tonight (Wed Feb 2) at 9.30pm, but replaced with cyclone news, can now be seen on Friday Feb 4 at 9.30pm, after the encore of Blue Bloods.

Wednesday September 16 8.30pm

When a horrific arson attack on a Turkish Social club kills 17 people, DS Brooks and Devlin head up a major murder investigation. Initial fears of a racist crime drive the investigation, but the truth proves to be even more complex.

Tracking down the arsonist, detectives get him to confess that he was working under orders from a high profile member of the Turkish community. The finding of a box of false passports and documents indicate that this businessman was running an illegal immigrant scheme, and it appears he had the immigrants killed to protect his reputation.

With James Steel from the CPS handed the case, public opinion is riding high, and the pressure is on for him to deliver. Along the way, he finds himself confronting one of his oldest friends as a potential accomplice. Is he willing to risk a valued friendship in order to gain justice?

Wednesday September 9 8.30pm

When a group of builders discover the bones of a child buried in a communal basement in Ladbroke Grove (West London), DS Brooks (Bradley Walsh) and DS Devlin (Jamie Bamber), find themselves investigating a 25 year old murder case.

Little Tommy Keegan was just eight when he disappeared, but without the discovery of a body, his mother has continued to hope for her long lost son.

Brooks and Devlin break the news that confirms the worst, and touched by Tommy’s mothers grief, they determine to find the culprit so her son can finally rest in peace.

A childhood friend of Tommy’s, Julia Mortimer (Holly Aird), holds the key to his disappearance, yet without her knowledge. The police are convinced that she is subconsciously repressing memories to protect herself from something hurtful.

Persuaded to take part in a controversial new hypnotic therapy, Julia tries to revisit her memory of the night of Tommy’s disappearance. Highly distressed, Julia reveals a terrible secret that both blows her family apart, and gives the Crown Prosecution Service a suspect.

Wednesday September 2 8.30pm

A metal detecting pensioner digging for treasure on the banks of London’s River Thames makes a gruesome discovery. Unearthing an expensive watch, he’s shocked to discover it’s still attached to its owner.

The discovery of this shallow grave forces DS Ronnie Brooks and DS Matt Devlin to reopen a contentious murder case.

Luke Slade (Iain Glen) was convicted of murder eight years ago but the body of his victim was never found. This latest discovery leads to a host of new evidence, and it looks like his conviction, made by Senior Crown Prosecutor James Steel, will unravel.

Having spent his time in prison studying law, a cocky Luke Slade represents himself in court, and the case quickly becomes a personal vendetta between Slade and Steel.

As Slade begins to get the better of James in court, Director of CPS, London, George Castle begins to question whether James was overzealous in his initial prosecution.

And when the prosecution case comes under threat, personal and professional loyalties are tested to their limit.

Wednesday August 26 8.30pm

The body of ex vice cop, Frank McCallum, is found beaten to death in an underpass in Paddington, London.

DS Ronnie Brooks (Bradley Walsh) and DS Matt Devlin (Jamie Bamber) soon realise that there is more to the case than a usual prostitute killing.

As forensic clues provide surprises, the trail leads the police to a respectable children’s clothes shop run by sisters Emma Sandbrook (Juliet Aubrey) and Kate Barton (Deborah Cornelius).

It soon emerges that the sisters were running a much less respectable secret business as high class escorts, and are arrested when police discover one of them was the last to see Frank alive.

The police and the Crown Prosecution Service must investigate what really happened on the fateful night in question to determine if the girls were acting in self defence, or if one of them is guilty of murder.

Wednesday August 19 8.30pm

When a 13 year old boy is found kicked to death at Lon- don’s Euston Station, DS Ronnie Brooks (Bradley Walsh) and DS Matt Devlin (Jamie Bamber) have nothing to go on. Frustrated at a lack of leads they turn to DI Natalie Chandler (Harriet Walter) whose press conference identifies the victim as Danny Jackson.

CCTV footage emerges from the station of a brutal fight between Danny and two boys he was in foster care with; Jonno and Alan. Either Jonno or Alan is responsible for their friend’s death but with blame flying, the police have a hard task on their hands identifying which is the killer.

Alan frames Jonno, and with a murder trial ahead the case is passed to Crown Prosecutors James Steel (Ben Daniels) and Alesha Phillips (Freema Agyeman.)

With a child in the dock, media interest is high and there is a dangerously frenzied public reaction to news of the killing.

Beatrice McArdle is charged with defending young Jonno (Dervla Kirwan.) Her audacious defence strategy is that he was genetically predisposed towards murder; a defence that would change the whole nature of the legal system.