Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo tease their characters’ "uneasy alliance" in Criminal Record season 2

The end of Criminal Record season 1 saw Cush Jumbo's Lenker uncover even more depths to Peter Capaldi's character Hegarty's corruption, after the internal investigation into his actions years prior was "evidentially inconclusive".

Given the frostiness between the two of them, some fans may be surprised to learn that they will be working together in the show's second season, investigating after a young man is stabbed to death at a political rally. This case eventually escalates into an undercover operation to foil a far-right bomb plot in the heart of London.

Speaking exclusively with Radio Times about the dynamic between Hegarty and Lenker this time around, Jumbo said of her character: "She's in a slightly different job. And I don't want to say she's more hardened, she's just been doing the job for a bit longer. But I do actually believe that it's made her more insistent about her search for truth and justice.

"She's not particularly looking to work with Hegarty again, it just happens the way it happens. But she knows a lot more where the trap doors are with him this time. She thinks she does, of course, they end up being on the ceiling, she has no idea.

"But I think that the world around her has changed, and so she has changed, but I think that her kind of persistence in going after what is right hasn't changed. Although she's having to sometimes think about whether she has to compromise some of her values to get what she wants to get done, done."

Meanwhile, Capaldi said the biggest difference between seasons 1 and 2 of the show is that "season 1 was digging into the past, and largely digging into Hegarty's past. But this season is a live case which is unfolding in a day-to-day way, that Hegarty and June have to respond to in real time. So they are forced into an uneasy alliance".

He continued: "And also, June has more power. I think Hegarty needs her, really, in this particular case, so that puts him slightly in a more defensive mode. But at the same time, he has a bigger issue to deal with."

This season of Criminal Record sees Shaun Dooley, Stephen Campbell Moore and Charlie Creed-Miles return alongside Jumbo and Capaldi, while new characters are being played by Dustin Demri-Burns, Luca Pasqualino, Luther Ford, Lyndsey Marshal and Peter Sullivan.

Demri-Burns is playing Cosmo Thompson, a far-right influencer at the heart of the investigation. Meanwhile, Pasqualino is playing JP, a crucial member of the police team this time around.

Criminal Record season 2 will premiere globally with the first episode on Wednesday 22 April on Apple TV, followed by one new episode weekly, every Wednesday until 10 June 2026 - sign up to Apple TV now.

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