Until I watched this show last night, I didn’t realise it was based on the true life tales of both Garrow and some of his clients, and it made an already very good drama excellent.

Andrew Buchan as the pioneering, genuinely caring lawyer – which is why I at first thought it was all a fiction – understatedly and utterly convincingly wandered the corridors of the Old Bailey doing his best for the wrongly accused innocents.

His associate and mentor Southouse was similarly nobly portrayed by Alun Armstrong, and together with a cast of genuinely convincing 18th century folk – well done costume and make-up department – we were transported back to a time when the accused’s solicitor couldn’t speak to the jury, were not privy to the deposition against their client, weren’t permitted to visit their client or to deliver an opening statement or closing speech in court. Read more & comment »