Law & Order: UK is the first American drama television series to be adapted for British television, with episodes based directly on scripts from the original American Law & Order series.

Franchise creator Dick Wolf first imagined a British version of Law & Order in 2000, but no network was willing to pick up a pilot at the time.

Wolf recruited scriptwriter Chris Chibnall, known for Torchwood, Life on Mars and Born and Bred, to adapt 13 episodes from the original Law & Order series using the 'Law & Order Bible', a book of synopses for every US episode.

One of the 13 episodes Chibnall adapted had to be scrapped because its plot was incompatible with English law, so a different episode was adapted in its place.

Producer Richard Stokes split the original 13 scripts into two separate series for British broadcast, against Dick Wolf's objections, since Wolf argued the US series routinely aired 22 episodes per season.

Interior scenes such as the courtroom, police station office and Crown Prosecution Service office were filmed on a specially built set at a disused Ministry of Defence base near the M25 motorway in Surrey, while exterior courthouse scenes were filmed around the Old Bailey on Sundays.

The police station set was designed for realism, featuring personal items on desks and an ironing board with clean shirts for officers who might need to head to court.

The main quadrangle and cloisters of University College London were used as filming locations for scenes in series six.

The show retained several hallmarks of the original American series, including the opening music styling, black-and-white intertitles, Dick Wolf's signature 'clanging cell door' sound effect, and hand-held camera work.

The final episode of series 5 was pulled from broadcast just hours before its scheduled 30 April 2014 airing because its storyline resembled the real-life murder of British teacher Ann Maguire that same week; it was rescheduled for 11 June 2014.