Caroline Miley

A gripping exploration of a fictional murder trial, with real barristers and judge. Found it riveting except for the scenes with the jury. They were a very annoying bunch, and the realism of the earlier episodes went out the window when it came to them. It was very unrealistic and ruined the last episodes. For a start, the judge gave them no direction as to how they could proceed, so they sat around randomly arguing about what they ‘instinctively’ thought. Would be terrifying if that was how juries really behaved. The film should have explained what ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ meant. They would have been instructed that they were to decide on the basis of the facts as presented. Instead, they shared personal experiences and speculated on what might have happened, and basically decided based on whether they liked the defendant. As presented, it was a miscarriage of justice. In reality, juries would approach the task with guidance from the court, systematically, and asking for clarification if necessary. They did none of this. It was a shambles,and ruined the series, which was a shame, as in other respects it had been very good up to then.