BACK on the BEAT

Christopher Meloni returns to his career defining role in a new Law & Order spin-off series

- JUDY EWENS, ALISON SLADE

NEW CRIME DRAMA

Law & Order: Organized Crime Friday, Sky Witness HD, 10pm

Ten years after Christopher Meloni’s last appearance as Detective Elliot Stabler in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, he returns to the role this week, starring in Law & Order: Organized Crime – a new spin-off series of the crime-drama franchise.

First, though, Meloni is seen in the SVU episode that immediately precedes Organized Crime. NYPD captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) is called to the scene of a car bombing, only to discover that the injured victim is Stabler’s wife.

The attack on his wife Kathy (Isabel Gillies) leads Stabler to join a task force within the NYPD’s Organized Crime Control Bureau and the investigation into the incident continues in Law & Order: Organized Crime.

Meloni, 60, who left SVU after 12 years in 2011, didn’t hesitate to pick up his police badge again for the new eight-part series, which will include another crossover episode with SVU and SVU cast members.