- Radio Times
- Review by:
- Emma Sturgess
Classy, versatile and willing to take on gritty storylines, Brenda Blethyn must be the dream guest star for the long-running crime series.
This particular SVU episode is from 2008, long before Blethyn earned her own crime-busting chops by playing a copper in Vera. Here her role as Linnie Malcolm, the downstairs neighbour of a victim of domestic abuse with a secret of her own, falls somewhere between murderess, fugitive and victim.
Her case soon attracts the attention of the steely Judge Donnelly (Judith Light), who seems to have unfinished business with the woman in the dock. In the time that has passed since they first met, the law has changed in order to better protect women in their own homes. Donnelly herself seems to have little compassion for Linnie, who wonders, rightly, how the two could ever understand each other.
About this programme
8/22. A woman claims to have been raped by a stranger to hide the fact she is a victim of domestic abuse, but later admits that her husband has been beating her because she does not want children with him. While conducting inquiries, Benson stumbles on a shockingly similar case involving the victim's elderly neighbour. Crime drama, starring Mariska Hargitay.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Det Elliot Stabler
- Christopher Meloni
- Det Olivia Benson
- Mariska Hargitay
- Capt Donald Cragen
- Dann Florek
- Det John Munch
- Richard Belzer
- Kim Greylek
- Michaela McManus
- Det Odafin `Fin' Tutuola
- Ice-T
- Melinda Warner
- Tamara Tunie
- Mike O'Halloran
- Mike Doyle
- Linnie Malcolm
- Brenda Blethyn
- Jonah Malcolm
- Mike Farrell
- Brent Latimer
- Nathaniel Marston
- Mia Latimer
- Clea DuVall
Crew
- Director
- Dick Wolf
- Executive Producer
- Carol Mendelsohn
- Executive Producer
- Jerry Bruckheimer
- Executive Producer
- Anthony E Zuiker
- Executive Producer
- Ann Donahue
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