An anthology drama in which different individuals await the verdict of their court case, with the story of how they ended up in the dock revealed through flashbacks.
Each episode centres on a different defendant as they are brought to the courtroom to face the final judgement of a jury. The narrative unfolds through a series of flashbacks, reconstructing the events and moral choices that led these ordinary people to their day in court. The first series included the stories of Willy Houlihan (Christopher Eccleston), a plumber whose life unravels after an impulsive affair; Helen Ryland (Juliet Stevenson), a mother driven to desperate measures by her son’s violent breakdown; and Liam Black (Andy Serkis), a taxi driver whose obsession with a fantasy woman has fatal consequences. The concluding moments of each story return to the present to reveal the jury’s verdict.
Jimmy McGovern’s anthology series functions as a modern-day collection of morality plays, each one a stark examination of human weakness and the often arbitrary nature of justice. The format is elegantly simple: by withholding the verdict until the final moments, each teleplay forces the audience into the jury box, challenging them to pass judgment on characters whose actions are presented without easy justification. The series revived the tradition of the standalone television play, attracting a formidable roster of actors drawn to McGovern’s unflinching, character-driven scripts. The format proved durable, and the series was later adapted for American television (Fox, 2023).
Broadcast: BBC One, 10 Episodes, 15 November – 20 December 2010; 14 August – 4 September 2012
Created by: Jimmy McGovern
Writers include: Jimmy McGovern, Daniel Brocklehurst, Alice Nutter
Directors include: David Blair, Richard Laxton
Executive Producers: Jimmy McGovern, Roxy Spencer, Sita Williams
Main Cast: Christopher Eccleston (Willy Houlihan), Juliet Stevenson (Helen Ryland), Andy Serkis (Liam Black), Benjamin Smith (Frankie Nash), Marc Warren (Kenny Armstrong), Naomie Harris (Alison Wade), Sean Bean (Tracie Tremarco), Stephen Graham (Tony)
