COURT IN THE MIDDLE
A NEW SERIES FOLLOWS A FICTIONAL TRIAL WITH A REAL JURY…
Most of us will never know what it’s like to sit on a jury unless we’re randomly selected to serve on one. This new five-part series, however, aims to demystify the judicial process by setting up a fictional case that will be tried by a real judge, real barristers and a jury of real people. The only actors involved are the accused, the victim, and some of the witnesses…
“I hesitated about doing this for a long time,” reveals Max Hill QC, who is the prosecutor in this case. “But there’s an abiding interest in what we do, which is the reason why there are so many dramas about the courtroom process. What ultimately grabbed me is that this was going to dispel all the myths and, I believe, come very close to the way we actually do this job. So I hope that everyone watching will learn lessons about the legal process.”
“My only concern on being involved was that it might feel artificial,” adds
John Ryder QC, counsel for the defence. “In fact, the absolute opposite was true and every effort was made by the production team to ensure that it was genuinely true to life.” While the jurors were aware that the trial wasn’t real, it didn’t take long for them to get caught up in the intricacies of the arguments and treat it very much like a real case.
“I find it very encouraging that there’s such openmindedness on the part of the jury,” enthuses John. “My feeling has always been that the defence starts off a couple of goals down, because the prosecution opens and presents the case. So I would assume that the jury would be inclined against the defendant at the start, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. There was informed debate from the word go.”