Ivan Radford | On 09, Feb 2025

“In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.” Those are the words that greet viewers at the start of every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. And if you’ve heard them once, you’re guaranteed to have heard them dozens more – because even after 20 odd seasons, the series still has the ability to draw people in and keep them hooked.

The long-running drama, created by Dick Wolf, is a spin-off from Wolf’s original Law & Order series for NBC. Its premise is explicitly stated in the title: it takes the formula of Law & Order and turns the darkness dial up a notch, focusing specifically on sexually based offences. And while that darkness might sound grim, it’s what gives the show its heft and staying power. Even today, it remains a groundbreaking programme in terms of opening up mainstream conversations about sexual assault and abuse. Debuting in 1999, it arrived years before public awareness – let alone understanding – had improved around questions such as consent.

Through each case cracked, the series manages to bust stereotypes around sex workers, domestic violence and what rape is. It does so with twisting storylines that grip, but crucially without ever exploiting or trivialising its subject matter – and given that the show often uses real-life crimes for inspiration, its ability to consistently surprise while still being sensitive, isn’t to be underestimated. It is, quite simply, far better and smarter than any procedural show has to be.

Those smarts have made the programme a go-to place for star cameos, and the list of guest appearances reads like the USA’s answer to Casualty: over the years, the names have ranged from Bradley Cooper and Cynthia Nixon to Milo Ventimiglia, Amanda Seyfried and Martin Short. Whether it’s a star name dropping by for an episode or an up-and-coming name climbing the ladder, part of the joy of watching SVU is playing spot the guest star.

The recurring cast, meanwhile, anchor the show: Mariska Hargitay is fantastic as the tough and passionate Detective Olivia Benson, who has her own past that motivates her, while Christopher Meloni is excellent as the driven and determined Elliot Stabler, who can sometimes get too absorbed by the work.

While the cast does change over time – with the exception of the dependable veteran Benson – throughout the show has the reassuring convention of its format. The episodic nature makes it a low-stakes commitment without losing the weight of each case – you know there will always be a pay-off of justice being delivered in some form. Decades on from its first episode, there’s something quietly powerful in that dependable, reliable structure: it’s a series that takes place in a world where such crimes are taken seriously by the police and the media, where corruption is address and victims are heard. All that is captured not just in the gravitas of the borderline cheesy opening narration, but in the two-dot motif that punctuates each ad break. The more you watch, the more those two beats become a comforting, familiar invitation: keep watching.

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