Law and Order: Special Victims Unit has become the first television series allowed to film inside the historic United Nations headquarters in New York City.

Filming of the show — starring Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay as members of a squad of NYPD detectives who investigate sexually related crimes — took place over the weekend.

The plot centres on a child soldier from northern Uganda. Scenes were shot at the landmark locale's visitors entrance plaza, the public lobby and the traffic circle outside the UN secretariat building.

The episode is scheduled to air March 24.

The show's plot speaks directly to a UN initiative to stop the recruitment of child soldiers in northern Uganda and elsewhere around the world.

This isn't the first time the famous building next to the East River has starred onscreen.

Sydney Pollack's 2005 film, The Interpreter — a political thriller featuring Nicole Kidman —was the first feature film to be shot in the building.

Prior to that, UN officials had often refused entreaties from filmmakers to shoot there. One request came from Alfred Hitchcock back in the 1960s.

Pollack took a different tack and approached then Secretary General Kofi Annan directly. Annan said he approved it because The Interpreter was a "dignified" film and reflected the work that the organization does.

Pollack shot the film at the UN in March 2004 and was given unprecedented access — filming in the public lounge, the General Assembly, the Security Council, backrooms and gardens.

Several dignitaries and UN staff also served as extras.