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Life

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Life: Charlie Crews and Dani

Life: the story so far

Published: Thursday, 16 October 2008, 12:20PM

As series 2 starts, get up to date with how it all began...

Detective Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis) spent years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit - but now he's back on the force.

It's no easy task, especially when his new partner at the Los Angeles Police Department is as jaded as Dani Reese.

But Charlie's time behind bars has given him an appreciation for life's details. He returns to the force with an almost zen-like approach to control his rage and find the connections that help solve the most difficult crimes.

Charlie Crews served 12 years of a life sentence for a triple homicide he did not commit. During that time, he lost everything he had - his wife, his friends, and his fellow cops.

He was a cop in prison. It would have been easier if they had sentenced him to death. In order to ensure his safety, he served the majority of his sentence in 23-hour-a-day lockdown. In a six by eight foot cell, Charlie lost his mind.

He talked to the walls, to himself, to his wife who couldn't hear him. And always, he heard the voice in his head saying, "I didn't do it."

After two years in that locked box, though, guilt began to creep in. He began to wonder, "Did I do it?" If he was in this box being punished, he must have done something.

Then, during his one hour a day all alone in the isolated prison yard, he discovered a book lying on the ground - The Way of Zen. When he finally decided to pick it up, Charlie read the whole book in one sitting and that book gave him his sanity back…

When Constance Griffiths came to see him with the proposition of re-opening his case, of giving him hope, Charlie told her there was no outside world to which he could return.

There was only this place, and he was here now. Please leave him alone. But Constance wouldn't do that. And finally Charlie consented to let her help him.

The first tests were negative for his DNA. The path to exoneration looked clear. Along with his exoneration plea, Constance had filed a suit against the Los Angeles Police Department and the City of Los Angeles.

They were both more than happy to pay cash in order to get the exoneration put behind them. But he wanted more than cash: Charlie wanted his badge and gun back.

Back on the beat Charlie was a changed man.  His time in prison gave him a unique view of the criminal mind, and with a cool $50 mil in the bank, Charlie does his job like he has nothing to lose. 

Throughout the first series Charlie searched for the man who set him up for murder.  In the series finale Charlie finally came face to face with the man who committed the crime he spent 12 years in prison for: Kyle Hollis.  But this discovery didn't bring Charlie the closure he was looking for, as he still doesn't know why he was set up.

In series two his search for the truth continues...

 

Life: Charlie Crews, Dani and LT Karen Davis

Cast interviews

Watch the stars talk about their roles in Life

    Life: Charlie Crews and Dani

    Meet the cast

    Damian Lewis, Sarah Shahi, Adam Arkin and more...

      Life: Charlie Crews

      Series one pictures

      Check out the first season in pictures with our slideshow recap