You may have been living under a rock if you haven’t heard about the brand new one-of-a-kind drama series, Crime and Justice Lagos. Exclusively available on Showmax, the procedural drama launched on Thursday, December 8, 2022.
The show that follows two detectives of the fictional Serious and Special Crime Unit (SSCU)and their team is the first of its kind in West Africa. Centred in Lagos, the series tells the story of the fictional SSCU, led by Deputy Commissioner of Police Femi Biboye (William Benson). The elite team of detectives made up of Superintendent Kelechi Farasin (Folu Storms), Superintendent Danladi Dikko (Jammal Ibrahim), and wheel-chair bound IT guru Simisola Alade-Wright (Maggie Osuome) take on some of the audacious and bizarre crimes in the city.
Here are seven facts about the drama series everyone needs to know:
1. All The stunts in Crime and Justice Lagos were real and performed by cast members, with no help from any stunt doubles. The guns were real, although they shot with empty barrels.
Jamal Ibrahim sheds more light on this, saying, “This is one set I’ve worked on that everything is as real as you read in the scripts. We had guns. We got to shoot them, although they had empty barrels.”
2. Every new episode in the season will tell a new crime story that will start and end in that episode. However, the characters’ stories will continue through new episodes, picking up from where they left off in previous ones. Viewers will only truly understand the inspectors’ stories towards the end of the first season.
Folu Storms explains this more, “Each episode is its own complete story. You can watch from anywhere, but you’d want to go back to the beginning because you want to know each character’s story. Each episode reveals a bit more about the core SSCU team, and their lives are fascinating. I think that’s what viewers will enjoy the most about it.”
3. Although Crime and Justice is a crime procedural drama series, it is more of human-interest stories, spotlighting real-life issues that Lagosians face. It captures all the essence of good police work in a similar fashion as NCIS, but it still keeps its Nigerian substance with issues around ritual killings and cultism.
4. Maggie Osuome, who plays the role of the wheelchair-bound-IT-guru Simisola Alade-Wright, named her wheelchair ‘Rocket’. She also consulted a physically challenged student at the University of Lagos to understand her mindset and how she would react in scenarios.
She shared, “In preparing for the role of Simi, I had conversations with someone who is actually physically disabled. I understood her thought process and how she felt about being in a wheelchair. I realised a good number of physically disabled individuals are more balanced mentally and emotionally than able-bodied people.”
5. They shot all six parts in sequence, from episodes 1 through 6. The filming took about four months, and the production crew and cast members only had 4 Sunday breaks in that period.
6. They had strict rules about carrying their fake SSCU badges and guns off-set.
7. The show’s cast understudied and consulted with police officers before and during filming for this show. It made them understand and empathise with Nigerian police officers, although they still believe that their series gives police officers something to aspire to.
The Kalasha Awards nominated the show’s first instalment set in Kenya for all three major awards across all the TV Drama categories in 2021: Best TV Drama, Best Lead Actor and Best Lead Actress (for Sarah Hassan, who won in this category). We can’t wait to see Crime and Justice Lagos beat those records as fans continue to fall in love with Inspector KC, Inspector Danladi, and Simi.
