‘Criminal Record’ Sneak Peek: Lenker Rightfully Goes All Mama Bear (VIDEO)

Something tells us Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Hegarty (Peter Capaldi) is about to realize he never should have gotten on the bad side of Detective Sergeant June Lenker (Cush Jumbo) on Criminal Record. Now, nothing about TV Insider’s exclusive sneak peek of the January 31 episode, “Possession With Intent,” tells us that he’s responsible, but after he nearly let her get killed on the job? We have to think he could be.

In the sneak peek, Lenker rushes into a police station, where her son may not have been charged, but he has been “processed for intent to supply. His DNA was taken. He was banged up—and all without the presence of an appropriate adult,” as she points out. Watch the full sneak peek above for more from Lenker and what her son tells her when he’s let go and reunites with his parents.

Criminal Record follows the confrontation of Lenker, in the early stages of her career, and Hegarty, determined to protect his legacy, after an anonymous phone call leads her to dig into one of his old cases—which may have led to an innocent man (Tom Moutchi’s Errol Mathis) being in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. And in “Possession With Intent,” June’s personal life suffers collateral damage when her son is targeted.

It was just two episodes ago that Hegarty, with his concerns about Lenker digging into that case, nearly let her get shot on the job; he warned her only after another member of the unit joined him in the surveillance van and saw the shooter approaching her. “At every turn, [he keeps trying] to kind of confuse her,” Jumbo told us of Hegarty’s actions in that episode. “‘I’m after you, I’m not after you. Am I after you? You don’t know if I’m you.’ I think that’s what she feels he’s trying to do.”

That moment is key when it comes to the open question about Hegarty of, “How far would he go? I don’t think we ever really know, but it’s the first hint I think that there is something really quite dark at play here,” according to executive producer Elaine Collins.

And that’s why this clip has us wondering just what led to Lenker’s son being brought in by the police—and where she’s going to look for answers.

Criminal Record, Wednesdays, Apple TV+