In the BritBox crime thriller “Code of Silence,” a deaf woman working in the canteen at a police station in Canterbury, England, is recruited by detectives when they need someone to read lips on surveillance footage. That initial premise can only take the show so far — watching someone stare at a video and decipher what people are saying has limited storytelling possibilities — so “Code of Silence” finds ways to complicate the endeavor.

Alison Brooks doesn’t have much excitement in her life. She lives with her mother, who is lovely but a little needy, and she also has an ex-boyfriend who keeps showing up, trying to understand why their relationship ended. Both her mom and ex are deaf, and there’s an important intimacy that comes through in their interactions that she doesn’t have with hearing people. But she’s also just generally bored, and being looped into an investigation is a welcome change of pace.

The police are watching a small group of criminals who meet in outdoor locations that can’t be easily bugged. Video is possible with hidden cameras, but the department’s professional forensic lip-readers are busy working other cases, hence the need for Alison’s skills. As played by Rose Ayling-Ellis, Alison is an intriguing mix of naivete and risk-taking, with a side order of sex appeal. Most people underestimate her because she’s deaf. She’s too self-confident for that, but also worn down by the struggle of her working-class reality, and the exciting details of the case — turns out, they’re planning a jewel heist — prove too thrilling for her to ignore.

From left: Charlotte Ritchie as detective Ashleigh Francis and Rose Ayling-Ellis as Alison Brooks in “Code of Silence.” (Samuel Dore/BritBox)

Initially, the detectives try to limit just how much Alison knows for her own protection. But when she’s alone, she finds the group’s computer hacker, a guy named Liam Barlow (Kieron Moore), on social media. With just enough information to pique her curiosity, she gets a bartending job at the pub he frequents. He’s nice enough, in a rough and tumble way, and he takes a liking to her. He’s also charming, which complicates everything. Suddenly, Alison finds herself functioning as an undercover informant for the police.

For the first time in her life, people are taking her seriously. Maybe that’s why she’s a true believer in the police in ways that seem naive. It makes sense that law enforcement would care about the heist, but the show doesn’t explore why we, as viewers, should agree that there’s a major injustice afoot if an obnoxious rich person might be robbed of what is just one more expensive bobble in their collection.

Like “Patience” on PBS, this is a British cop show that features a disabled person whose skills become an unexpected asset to police work. And to “Code of Silence’s” credit, it’s told from the point of view of Alison, rather than the police. Disabled actors playing disabled characters should be more commonplace generally on television, but I appreciate that, in these two instances, they are being incorporated into a genre that has otherwise never made much room for them.

And the show (from creator Catherine Moulton, who is partially deaf herself) has an intriguing way of illustrating Alison’s experience lip-reading. Early on, as she’s busing tables in the canteen, she looks over and sees two people deep in conversation. “I’m o in razee here,” the subtitles read. Then the words adjust as Alison puts together what’s being said: “I’m going crazy here.” The man continues: “ewe se ewe leaf im,” and a moment later the words on screen become “You said you would leave him.” This format continues throughout the series, and it’s an effective way of conveying some of the guesswork involved. She explains that the letters B and P and M all look the same when reading lips, which is why she’s initially unsure if Liam’s last name is Barlow or Marlowe. But also: “It’s not just about seeing words.” You also need context. ”It’s who’s talking and what you know of them.”

The detectives are a mix of annoyed and concerned as Alison keeps putting her neck on the line, courting danger. What is she getting herself into? “I know what I’m doing,” she says firmly. She does not know what she’s doing. But she’s brazen, and that gets her further than anyone anticipates.

“Code of Silence” — 3 stars  (out of 4)

Where to watch: BritBox

Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.

By MATT BROWN

WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations on Thursday declared a “state of emergency” for antidiscrimination policies, personal freedoms and Black economic advancement in response to President Donald Trump ‘s upending of civil rights precedents and the federal agencies traditionally tasked with enforcing them.

The National Urban League’s annual State of Black America report accuses the federal government of being “increasingly determined to sacrifice its founding principles” and “threatening to impose a uniform education system and a homogenous workforce that sidelines anyone who doesn’t fit a narrow, exclusionary mold,” according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

“If left unchecked,” the authors write, “they risk reversing decades of progress that have made America more dynamic, competitive, and just.”

Report critiques racism entering ‘mainstream’ of American politics

The report, released Thursday at the group’s conference in Cleveland, Ohio, criticizes the administration for downsizing federal agencies and programs that enforce civil rights policies. The authors aimed to highlight what they saw as a multiyear, coordinated effort by conservative legal activists, lawmakers and media personalities to undermine civil rights policy and create a political landscape that would enable a hard-right agenda on a range of social and economic policy.

“It is not random. It is a well-funded, well-organized, well-orchestrated movement of many, many years,” said Marc Morial, president of the Urban League. “For a long time, people saw white supremacist politics and white nationalism as on the fringe of American politics. It has now become the mainstream of the American right, whose central foundation is within the Republican Party.”

The report directly critiques Project 2025, a sweeping blueprint for conservative governance coordinated by The Heritage Foundation think tank. Project 2025 advised approaches to federal worker layoffs, immigration enforcement and the congressional and legislative branches similar to the Trump administration’s current strategy.

The Urban League report condemns major corporations, universities and top law firms for reversing diversity, equity and inclusion policies. It also criticizes social media companies like Meta and X for purported “censorship” of Black activists and creatives and content moderation policies that allegedly enabled “extremists” to spread “radicalizing” views.

Debates over civil rights enter the center of the political fray

The Trump administration has said many policies implemented by both Democratic and Republican administrations are discriminatory and unconstitutional, arguing that acknowledgments of race and federal and corporate policies that seek to address disparities between different demographics are themselves discriminatory. Trump has signed executive orders banning “illegal discrimination” and promoting “merit based opportunity.”

Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman, said civil rights groups that oppose the administration “aren’t advancing anything but hate and division, while the president is focused on uniting our country.”

The report, meanwhile, calls for the creation of a “new resistance” to counter the administration’s agenda. Morial urged other organizations to rally to that cause.

The Urban League and other civil rights groups have repeatedly sued the Trump administration since January. Liberal legal groups and Democratic lawmakers similarly sued over parts of the administration’s agenda.

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Veteran civil rights activists, Black civic leaders, former federal officials, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and seven members of Congress, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, contributed to the text.

Raoul said that civil rights allies have felt “on the defense” in recent years but that now “it’s time to act affirmatively.” For instance, if rollbacks of DEI policies result in discrimination against women or people of color legal action could follow, he warned.

“It all depends on how they do it. We’re going to be watching,” he said. “And just because the Trump administration doesn’t believe in disparate impact anymore doesn’t mean the rest of the universe must believe that.”

The report criticizes the Trump administration’s efforts to shutter the Education Department, and denounces changes to programs meant to support communities of color at the departments of Commerce, Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development, among others. The transformation of the Justice Department’scivil rights division was singled out as “an existential threat to civil rights enforcement.”

The Justice Department pointed to its published civil rights policy and a social media post from its civil rights arm that reads the division “has returned to enforcing the law as written: fairly, equally, and without political agenda.”

Nevada Rep. Steve Horsford, a contributor to the report, said Trump “betrayed the American people” in enacting plans he said were similar to Project 2025.

Lawmakers reflect on the long fight for civil rights

Another contributor, Rep. Yvette Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said civil rights advocates and their Democratic allies must do more to communicate with and educate people.

“When you have an administration that’s willing to take civil rights gains and call it reverse racism, then there’s a lot of work to be done to unpack that for folks,” the New York Democrat said. “I think once people understand their connection to civil rights gains, then we will be in a position to build that momentum.”

The Urban League originally planned to focus its report on the legacy of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for the law’s 60th anniversary but pivoted after Trump returned to office to focus on “unpacking the threats to our democracy” and steps civil rights advocates are taking to pull the country back from “the brink of a dangerous tilt towards authoritarianism.”

For many veteran civil rights activists, the administration’s changes are condemnable but not surprising. Some lawmakers see it as a duty to continue the long struggle for civil rights.

“I think it’s all part of the same struggle,” said Rep. Shomari Figures, an Alabama Democrat who contributed to the report and whose father was successfully brought a wrongful-death suit against a branch of the Ku Klux Klan. “At the end of the day, that struggle boils down to: Can I be treated like everybody else in this country?”

Republican Scott Jensen announced his candidacy for governor on Thursday.

Jensen, a family physician and former state senator, unsuccessfully ran against Gov. Tim Walz in 2022 when he took 44% of the vote. He is the second high-profile Republican to announce in a 2026 bid, alongside Republican Kendall Qualls , who also ran in 2022.

“Minnesotans want their state back,” Jensen said in a statement on his candidacy. “We remember the days when our communities were safe, our schools were strong and our leaders put people — not politics — first. That’s the Minnesota we’re going to fight to bring back.”

Walz has yet to decide whether he will seek a third term as governor and is expected to announce a decision around the end of summer, his staff said. Walz has ruled out other offices, such as the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Tina Smith.

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By BOB THOMAS

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Connie Francis, the wholesome pop star of the 1950s and ‘60s whose hits included “Pretty Little Baby” and “Who’s Sorry Now?” — the latter would serve as an ironic title for a personal life filled with heartbreak and tragedy — has died at age 87.

Her death was announced Thursday by her friend and publicist, Ron Roberts, who did not immediately provide additional details. Earlier this month, Francis posted that she had been hospitalized with “extreme pain.” Francis had gained renewed attention in recent months after “Pretty Little Baby” became a sensation on TikTok, with Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner among the many celebrities citing it.

“I’m flabbergasted and excited about the huge buzz my 1962 recording of ‘Pretty Little Baby’ is making all over the world,” she said in a video on TikTok, which she had joined in response to the song’s unexpected revival. “To think that a song I recorded 63 years ago is captivating new generations of audiences is truly overwhelming for me.”

Francis was a top performer of the pre-Beatles era, rarely out of the charts from 1957-64. Able to appeal to both young people and adults, she had more than a dozen Top 20 hits, starting with “Who’s Sorry Now?” and including the No. 1 songs “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You” and “The Heart Has a Mind of Its Own.” Like other teen favorites of her time, she also starred in several films, including “Where the Boys Are” and “Follow the Boys.”

The dark-haired singer was just 17 when she signed a contract with MGM Records following appearances on several TV variety shows. Her earliest recordings attracted little attention, but then she released her version of “Who’s Sorry Now?” an old ballad by Ted Snyder, Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby.

It, too, had little success initially until Dick Clark played it on his “American Bandstand” show in 1958. Clark featured her repeatedly on “American Bandstand,” and she said in later years that without his support, she would have abandoned her music career.

Francis followed with such teen hits as “Stupid Cupid,” “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” and “Lipstick on Your Collar.” Her records became hits worldwide as she re-recorded versions of her original songs in Italian and Spanish, among other languages. Her concerts around the country quickly sold out.

Meanwhile, a romance bloomed with fellow teen idol Bobby Darin, who had volunteered to write songs for her. But when her father heard rumors that the pair was planning a wedding, he stormed into a rehearsal and pulled a gun on Darin, ending their relationship and seeming to set Francis on a pained and traumatic path.

She chronicled some of it in her autobiography, “Who’s Sorry Now?”

“My personal life is a regret from A to Z,” she told The Associated Press in 1984, the year the book came out. “I realized I had allowed my father to exert too much influence over me.”

Her father, George Franconero, was a roofing contractor from New Jersey who played the accordion. She was just 3 when her father presented her with a child-size accordion, as soon as she began to show an aptitude for music. When she was 4, he began booking singing dates for her, going on to become her manager.

Although her acting career had faded by the mid-1960s, Francis was still popular on the concert circuit when she appeared at the Westbury Music Center in Westbury, New York, in 1974. She had returned to her hotel room and was asleep when a man broke in and raped her at knifepoint. He was never captured.

Francis sued the hotel, alleging its security was faulty, and a jury awarded her $2.5 million in 1976. The two sides then settled out of court for $1,475,000 as an appeal was pending. She said the attack destroyed her marriage and put her through years of emotional turmoil.

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She suffered tragedy in 1981 when her brother George was shot to death as he was leaving his New Jersey home. Later that decade, her father had her committed to a psychiatric hospital, where she was diagnosed as manic-depressive. At one point, she tried to kill herself by swallowing dozens of sleeping tablets. After three days in a coma, she recovered.

Around that time, she wrote to President Ronald Reagan and volunteered to help others, calling herself ″America’s most famous crime victim.″ Reagan appointed her to a task force on violent crime.

″I don’t want people to feel sorry for me,″ she told The New York Times in 1981. ″I have my voice, a gift from God I took for granted before. He gave it back to me.″

She was married four times and would say that only her third husband, Joseph Garzilli, was worth the trouble. The other marriages each lasted less than a year.

Concetta Rosemarie Franconero was born on Dec. 12, 1937, in Newark, New Jersey. At age 9 she began appearing on television programs, including “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” and “The Perry Como Show.” It was Godfrey who suggested she shorten her last name.

National Writer Hillel Italie contributed reporting from New York. Bob Thomas, a longtime Hollywood reporter for The Associated Press, was the principal writer of this obituary and died in 2014.