Copper: Season One

The first original drama created for BBC America combines the historical crime show template that is so successful in Britain with the provocative period dramas proliferating on American cable. Tom Weston-Jones is Det. Kevin Corcoran, the one good cop in Civil War–era New York City, who along with his loyal partners fights crime both in the slums and in the halls of power, while grappling with rampant corruption in the police department. Ato Essandoh is Dr. Matthew Freeman, secretly working with Corcoran as the city's first forensic pathologist, and Franka Potente is Eva Heissen, a brothel manager with a personal interest in the lawman. Created by Tom Fontana (Homicide, Oz) and Will Rokos (Southland), this American crime show convincingly re-creates 1860s-era urban blight, with brief peeks at the enclaves of the rich and powerful. Played against a culture of rampant crime and deceit—where the well-to-do can simply buy their way out of trouble—the first season is historically entwined with the re-election of President Abraham Lincoln and a burgeoning Confederate conspiracy in New York. For all the lurid details (the first episode features a pederast politician), the mud and blood of street violence, and the cozy ties between money and power, Copper still feels like a contemporary crime drama in period clothing. Compiling all 10 episodes aired in 2012, extras include audio commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, and character profiles. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)