I stopped watching the US Law and Order after they killed off Claire. That was a long time ago. I loved the original cast members and the way they worked together. I never tried watching the spin-offs--like CSI, the original, to me, is the best. I lived in NY--the stories were from NY (the tagline used to be something about them being pulled from the headlines), and having them set in NY brought a familiarity to me that other crime shows don't.
When I saw there was a a Law and Order UK, I was thrilled. I recognized the actors from other UK productions (and Jamie from BSG), and sat to watch, in anticipation. I was not disappointed. Sure, the settings are different, and I didn't recognize all the story lines--I looked up the original titles, online, to remind myself about the US episodes. But, the episodes did a good job of it, and I hope there will be more. I've seen all 13 episodes now and hope there are more to come.
Are they as good as the originals? It's been a long time so I can't make that comparison, fairly. But, they were good enough for me to want more :)