A Strange, Paranoid New Crime Drama

Accused, a BBC anthology series that’s been remade for American network television, is the newest example of an intriguing conceit lost in translation. The original, created by the veteran British writer Jimmy McGovern, presented itself as an exercise in moral deliberation: Each episode introduced a character, revealed the crime they were on trial for and the circumstances that led to their committing it, and then left the viewer to conclude whether their actions were justified. The show’s insistent focus on marginalized, working-class lives—single mothers, factory workers, people well below the poverty line—gave it a slyly radical undertone. When committing a crime is a matter of survival or social justice, Accused asked, is it actually the intractability of the system that’s morally indefensible?