Criminal Justice

Introduction

Shown over five nights on BBC1 this summer, Criminal Justice begins with Ben (Ben Whishaw), a normal 21 year old who arranges to go out to a party with a mate but, when he sets off to go, he finds that his car won't start so takes his dad's cab instead. On the way people continually try and hail him down but he waves them away and can't figure out how to turn off the 'for hire' light. When his mate calls, he pulls over to answer his mobile and, during the conversation, a young woman (Ruth Negga) gets in and although he tells her he's not a taxi driver, she doesn't get out and says she wants to go to the seaside. With nowhere else to go - his friend has bailed on him - he decides to drive her and spend the evening with her, eating ice cream and taking drugs.

Back at her place, they drink heavily and have sex. Waking up naked in her kitchen with a terrible hangover, Ben goes upstairs and begins to dress and say his goodbyes before noticing that she is seemingly dead with a knife wound in her chest which corresponds to a bloody blade in the kitchen. Ben flees but returns to clean up the bedroom, takes the knife and drives away though, in his rush, he loses control and crashes. The police are on their way to another murder and take in this intoxicated young man on the way but they get a call and head to the house Ben has just left.

Taken to the police station, they discover the knife in his jacket and blood on his hands and, without any further investigation, charge their prime suspect with murder. The series follows Ben's journey from custody and jail, where he makes the trips to and from court for his trial.

Video

Broadcast quality from this year, which is very good, though there is some slight aliasing, and stylishly shot with the palette changing to reflect the mood and impressive design of prison, the courtroom and cells.

Audio

A very clear stereo soundtrack with an excellent score by John Lunn. For a show that is so reliant on dialogue, the sound is as crisp as you'd hope for and there are excellent English HoH subtitles available.

Extra Features

Disappointingly there are no interviews with the writer, no commentaries or featurettes about the veracity of the series' depiction of the criminal justice system and life in jail - all the package contains are selected filmographies for the principle cast and a photo gallery on the first disc.

Conclusion

As with most things on television, I didn't watch this and only heard of it when there was a debate on Radio 4's the Today programme debating the series and how close to reality it is. Criminal Justice gets its hooks into you early on and, if I hadn't started watching the first episode fairly late at night, would have happily watched the entire 5 hours in one showing.

Life in jail is subject of much debate with many saying prison life is too easy. This shows how terrifying it is for a young man with hardened criminals who boss the jail themselves - Ben doesn't know whether he can trust the guards, the cons who say they can protect him or his seemingly friendly cellmate Hooch (Pete Postlethwaite) who's in because he chopped off somebody's arm with a meat cleaver. If life inside is complicated, so is negotiating his defence as his duty solicitor, a crumpled bloodhound of a man with eczema on his feet, isn't interested in what happened, only what would make a good story and would be more likely to get Ben acquitted. Unsure whether to trust this dishevelled and seemingly disorganised figure, he gets no improvement in his advice from a highly paid legal team, nor the brief who is allocated to represent him in court.

Criminal Justice was written by Peter Moffat, a former barrister who created the legal themed shows Kavanagh QC and North Square and apparently used his own experiences when writing this. With a cast including Pete Postlethwaite, Lindsay Duncan, Con O'Neill, Ben Whishaw and Bill Paterson, this is a superbly made and thought provoking mini-series that grips you from the first episode and still has you thinking after the credits have rolled at the conclusion of the last. It's a taut and thrilling drama that's well worth your attention.