"Crown Court" (1972) TV series 1972-1984

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Writer:

John Foster (9 episodes)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 8 | unknown

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Courtroom drama - each case takes three episodes. At the end of the third episode a jury of "ordinary people" comes to a verdict on the evidence presented.

Cast

Peter Wheeler	...	Court Reporter / ... (239 episodes, 1972-1984)
Joseph Berry	...	Court Usher / ... (129 episodes, 1972-1979)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Granada Television

Trivia:

The jury was composed of ordinary lay people (not actors) chosen at random from the electoral roll of Manchester where the Granada TV studios were located. Only the jury foreman was an actor - this was needed to comply with Equity rules on speaking parts only being given to Equity members. All the episodes of a given case were recorded on the same day and the jury was given thirty minutes to reach its verdict, based on the evidence that it had heard. For many stories, two endings were scripted and rehearsed to match whichever verdict (guilty or not guilty) the jury happened to return.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Screenwipe: (#3.3)" (2007)

And The Verdict Is...

Daytime television in the U.K. didn't used to be about make over shows, 'Loose Women', and confrontational programmes of the 'Jeremy Kyle' variety. Back in the '70's, we had 'Crown Court', a series of intelligently written courtroom dramas, starring the cream of Britain's acting talent. The secret of the show's success lay in its simplicity; we rarely saw what was going on in the outside world, all we knew of the respective cases was what we heard from the witnesses, and that was enough. The jury was chosen from members of the public, who'd then deliver a verdict based on the evidence. Perhaps the most disturbing case was 'Destruct, Destruct' in which a sci-fi obsessed juvenile suffocates a boy with a plastic bag. Every time the camera focused on the accused, we'd be privy to his thought processes, which consisted of weird electronic noises. In 1976, Granada revamped 'Crown Court', putting it out on Saturday nights in hour-long shows. It didn't work, however, and soon returned to its natural habitat.