For sheer theatre there’s nothing like a courtroom drama. I was first hooked way back in the sixties when Perry Mason got his man every Sunday night without fail, always with the help of crucial new evidence provided at the last minute by side-kick Paul Drake. I don’t think I understood half of it, but was entranced by the formulaic language and that sense of the odds always being stacked up against the defendant by evil DA Hamilton Burger.
Modern equivalents might be more convincing and better crafted, but if the 21st century courtroom has had some of the stuffiness knocked out of it, there’s a lot to be said for the full-on frocked and bewigged version now showing as Garrow’s Law. I succumbed straight away to all that objecting and overruling, not to mention a good smattering of period atmosphere. Apparently Garrow was a hugely important legal campaigner, but as our learned friend comes across as a swotty version of Jonathan Creek, for me this is comfort viewing at its best.
Roll on Sunday!
Ali Bacon, Author 