*Warning - contains plot details from Criminal Record season 2 episode 1.*
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As the second season of Criminal Record starts airing on Apple TV, the first episode kicked off with a dramatic sequence in which June was monitoring a protest in London.
When the protestors were countered by a far-right group, a violent riot ensued in which a young man, Rohaan, was stabbed to death.
"I loved doing that sequence," June star Cush Jumbo said of the scene when speaking exclusively with Radio Times. "As dark as that sounds, I think it was one of the most amazing ones we've ever put together."
Jumbo also opened up about how this moment, and June's inability to save Rohaan, affects her throughout the season.
"I think it drives her through the whole show, actually," she said. "It's a bigger conversation with herself about decision making, and she has been in that situation before, but this feels very firmly on her shoulders.
"She's a mother of a young boy as well, who's not dissimilar from Rohaan’s age. So it kind of opens up something for her about yes, on the surface, trying to find his killer, but underneath all of it, wondering whether her decision making anymore is any good. Can she trust herself to make the right decisions? And is every decision I'm making bound to unravel into something truly awful?
"That's the pressure you're carrying when you're slightly higher up. So I think it really affects her mental health quite a bit as well. And you see that in the way that she kind of drifts a little bit from home and from herself, and in the way that Ben shoots it, which is brilliant, actually."
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Jumbo was speaking alongside her co-star Peter Capaldi, who also returns to the show as Daniel Hegarty. In season 2, he and June team up to investigate Rohaan's stabbing, and to foil a far-right bomb threat.
Season 2 also stars Dustin Demri-Burns, Luca Pasqualino, Luther Ford, Lyndsey Marshal, Peter Sullivan, Shaun Dooley, Stephen Campbell Moore and Charlie Creed-Miles.
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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James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
