Life of Crime is a three-part police drama about risk-taking policewoman Denise Woods. Life of Crime explores Denise's career over three decades as she progresses through the Metropolitan Police Force and how choices she makes as a rookie officer have long lasting and explosive repercussions on both her professional and personal life.

In her twenties Denise starts her career as an idealistic WPC, fighting sexism and ignoring her mother's disappointment at her career choice. She's seconded to work with handsome young plain clothes Detective Sergeant Ray Deans. One September morning she accompanies him to a crime scene in a narrow lane behind a Brixton nightclub where the battered and strangled body of teenager Amy has been discovered.

Having had a previous encounter with the teenager, Denise is determined to bring Amy's killer to justice. She works against the clear instruction and advice of her senior officers and follows her own lines of enquiry. As the investigation progresses Denise's fervour for the case leads her to fall foul of her senior officer, DCI Ferguson. But Denise stays single-minded in her pursuit of the killer and at that point makes her fateful decision.

Set against the backdrop of iconic moments in British history, the drama unfolds over three decades. We meet her first against the backdrop of the Brixton riots in 1985, and then in 1997 as she rises through the ranks and again in 2013 when she is a senior officer with everything to lose.