Fictional trial a real thriller

Given the popularity of legal dramas and documentaries about the legal process it’s surprising no one had tried merging the two before. I’m glad Channel 4 finally took a punt, though. The Trial: A Murder In The Family had me hooked from the minute we met the fictional defendant. Simon Davis, played by Michael Gould (below), was on trial for strangling his estranged wife Carla, played by Emma Lowndes. The twist was that, aside from the Davises, the police officers and some witnesses, everyone else involved was real – including the 12 jury members. Sounds confusing but it worked a treat. We ended up with three for the price of one: a drama, a documentary and a drama-documentary. On the documentary side it helped that the cast are not distractingly famous, while the drama side benefited greatly from the fact that the production team had pulled in some proper characters from the legal world. The defence was led by theatrical John Ryder QC – imagine The Fast Show’s Rowley Birkin before he started getting very, very drunk. By contrast, lead prosecutor was the more reserved Max Hill QC, who insists “the jury don’t want theatricals or drama” and who, minus wig, looks like Mr Rumbold from Are You Being Served? The programme runs every night until Thursday, when we discover if Simon Davis is guilty or not. I already have my theories.

In retrospect I am glad it happened. Because if I was a rock star I would be the best rock star ever... and I think I would be dead. Ricky Gervais on not making it as a pop star in the 1980s