Criminal Justice (TV Series)
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Criminal Justice is a BBC TV 5-part thriller. It stars Ben Whishaw as Ben Coulter, a young man who is accused of murder after a drunken and drug-filled night out, though is unable to remember commiting the crime. The five episodes were broadcast nightly from 30 June to 4 July 2008. The series was directed by Otto Bathurst and Luke Watson. As well as Whishaw, the show stars Pete Postlethwaite, Con O'Neill, Lindsay Duncan, David Westhead and Bill Paterson. It was written by Peter Moffat.

Plot

Episode 1

Ben Coulter takes his parents' black cab out for the night. At a traffic light, a young woman gets into the cab. Despite telling her he does not take fares, she insists on going to the seaside. While there, she offers Ben ecstasy, which he accepts. The pair go back to her house, and after sleeping together, Ben awakes downstairs, seeing a knife on the table at which he was sleeping. He goes upstairs to find the girl dead, with a stab wound to the chest. Police stop Ben after he crashes the taxi in shock. They later find he matches a description given by a neighbour, who saw Ben break into the girl's house to wipe his DNA off the house. They also find a knife in Ben's pocket. He is arrested on suspicion of murder. He is later charged and refused bail.

Episode 2

Ben spends his first day in prison. He seeks protection from a feared inmate, after being beaten up by Milroy, a feared jailbird. In return for being protected, Ben must smuggle an item past the prison guard. He also re-employs his former lawyer. This episode sees the first appearance of Vineeta Rishi as Frances Kapoor.

Episode 3

Ben's expensive new barrister persuades him to plead self-defence despite his misgivings.

Episode 4

Ben takes to the witness box before returning to prison and getting into a brawl.

Episode 5

Ben's barrister, Frances, appears the only person who believes Ben's innocent pleads and so tries to free him. However, Ben's solicitor persuades him to appeal on the grounds of inadequate representation in court by his barrister, therefore perhaps ruining Frances' career as a barrister. Ben is freed when CCTV evidence is eventually released, of a man who committed another murder in the area on the same night, chasing the girl Ben is accused of killing. Ben wants to withdraw the appeal evidence against Francis, but his solicitor says it is too late, as the ball was already rolling, and Ben should get on with his life.

Reception

Sally Kinnes of The Sunday Times wrote that Criminal Justice "takes the worn-out formula of the cop show and demonstrates there is something new to be said." and that the show offers an "inventive critique of the criminal justice system".^{citation needed}

Jasper Rees of The Times calls Criminal Justice a "Great creation," though John Cooper says the series "fails to address the real dilemmas of the criminal justice system." and that there is "little excuse for implausible plot and dialogue." The same paper says the drama has "devastating performances and the stench of authenticity."^{citation needed}

Awards

• Won, ITV3 Crime Thriller Award for TV Crime Drama of the Year, 2008¹

DVD

Criminal Justice is available on DVD.

References

External links

• Criminal Justice at the Internet Movie Database