"The Jury" (2002) TV mini-series

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Pete Travis

Writer:

Peter Morgan (writer)

Release Date:

17 February 2002 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

TV Mini-Series

Cast

Dimitri Andreas	...	Jan Kukos
Nathalie Armin	...	Usher
Gillian Barge	...	Eva Prohaska
Nick Bartlett	...	Prison Officer
Paul Bhattacharjee	...	Dr. Nirmal
Darren Boyd	...	Sebastian
Isabel Brook	...	Isobel
Stuart Bunce	...	Charles Gore
Richard Buss	...	Laurie Thorpe
Gerard Butler	...	Johnnie Donne
Andy Capie	...	Glazier
Sonnell Dadral	...	Duvinder Singh
Matthew Thomas Davies	...	Charlie Crawford
Glyn Dilley	...	Court Official
Matt Dineen	...	Heavy Skinhead
James Doherty	...	David Hind
Ray Donn	...	Prison Officer
Jim Dunk	...	DCI Shand
John Duttine	...	Mark Waters
Steven Emrys	...	Mr. de Jersey
Kate Fahy	...	Dr. Emma McGlade
Nicholas Farrell	...	Jeremy Crawford
Peter Gale	...	Dr. Hughes
Nitin Ganatra	...	Tariq Shah
Fiona Gillies	...	Fiona Crawford
Leo Gregory	...	Ally Maher
James Hayes	...	Father Gervase
Tim Healy	...	Eddie Fannon
Charlie Hicks	...	Sam Crawford
William Hoyland	...	Hector
Chris Humphreys	...	Paramedic
Derek Jacobi	...	George Cording QC
Tiana Paige Johnson	...	Joy Thomas
Louisa Lydell	...	TV Reporter
Michael Maloney	...	Peter Segal
Simon Markey	...	Dr. Levinson
Neil Maskell	...	Chris Maher
Helen McCrory	...	Rose Davies
Connor McIntyre	...	Derek Batey
Claire Nielson	...	Eleanor Colchester
Joanne Pearce	...	Marion Segal
Miranda Pleasence	...	Maria De Silva
Paul Reynolds	...	Warren Murray
Amanda Royle	...	Ms Thurloe
Billy Scott	...	John Maher
Ninka Scott	...	Court Clerk
Shaughan Seymour	...	Judge
Jack Shepherd	...	Ron Maher
Antony Sher	...	Gerald Lewis QC
Nina Sosanya	...	Marcia Thomas
Mark Strong	...	Len Davies
Steve Sweeney	...	Thomas Haines
Sylvia Syms	...	Elsie Beamish
Ellen Thomas	...	Ruby Thomas
Martin Troakes	...	Hotel Employee
Peter Vaughan	...	Michael Colchester
Sarah Louise Young	...	Jessica Garland
Antony Zaki	...	Ranjit Singh

Runtime:

300 min (6 parts)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Central Criminal Courts, Old Bailey, London, England, UK

Company:

Granada Television

Trivia:

In episode one, a computer screen list showing the names of potential jury members contains the names of fourteen characters from "The Bill" (1984). They are Reg Hollis, Nick Klein, Duncan Lennox, Debbie McAllister, Jack Meadows, Andrew Monroe, Dave Quinnan, Kass (sic) Rickman, Paul Riley, Vic Singh, Kate Spears, Roz Clarke, Tony Stamp and Des Taviner. Some of the potential jurors' addresses also correspond to street names used on the show.

Movie Connections:

References "The Bill" (1984)

Played out but enthralling

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

Kudos to ITV for the good idea of this six-parter series,which shows we can do it and that it's not just Hollywood that can make this kind of thing work.

In Britain (and certain other countries) it's considered every working citizens duty to perform 'jury service'.That is,twelve people (men and women usually these days) from completely different walks of life and with presumably no previous experience of the judicial system must come together to decide the fate of a defendant on trial for a crime.In this case,a 15/16 year old Pakistani student has been accused of hacking his classmate to death in a field.It is a very high profile case which has ignited racial hatred between the White/Asian community,and the series cleverly examines not only the opinions of the jurors,but also how this alien and stressful experience affects their lives outside work.

The acting is pretty good stuff.Veteran Derek Jackobi is lively,spirited and ingenuitive as the defence barrister.Plus Anthony Sher is suitably cold and uncompromising as the prosecution.The people on the jury impressively convey the uncertainty and fear that overrides them all.Jack Shepherd is a good character actor,here playing the murdered boy's father,but is given little to do except sit in the courtroom looking tense and agitated.Also,Tim Healy gets to spread his wings and fly in something that isn't another annoying Uno advert.

The ending is something of a cop-out ,with a few unexplained matters not being resolved.But it's all acted with such sincerity and dash,with engaging pace and dialogue to match,that you feel compelled to watch it to the end if only to support British big/small screen productions.***