Talk:Crown Court (TV series)

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I've added a fair bit to the article today and tried to incorporate some of the trivia into the main text. A few things I'm not sure about which I think would improve the article:

• What episodes did Granada Plus repeat - all or just a selection? The only ones I have from this source are Minnie 1/2/3 (8th - 10th May 1975).
• Who did the narration at the beginning of each episode? "An Evil Influence" ep 1 doesn't credit anyone for this but it's a male voice. My hazy recollection of "Minnie" was that the narrator was female.

The female voice I'm not sure - I believe the principal narrator - credited as "Court Reporter" - was Granada announcer Peter Wheeler - did similar duties on University Challenge in the days of Bamber Gascoigne ("Balliol, Smith", that sort of thing).

Arthurvasey (talk) 23:18, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

• Any other commercial releases we should list apart from the two stories included as extras on Network DVD releases?
• Any info on Legal TV's proposed revival of the series?

ITV revived it in an hour-long format in the late 90s, re-titled "The Verdict".

Arthurvasey (talk) 23:18, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Dominic Jackson 22:11, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Episodes that occasionally saw sequences outside of the confines of the court, or deviations from normal procedure.

Can't remember the titles, but some episodes did feature bits outside of the court.

One case, which featured a cast of kids (adults as judge, QCs and jury), viewers saw a moment prior to the courtroom sequence which culminated in some kids suffocating another kid by putting a plastic bag over the kid's head.

In another episode from the era when it went out as single episodes on a Saturday night, the case involved a young Asian boy - there was a brief scene at the start of the episode, set outside of the actual courtroom, where the boy was being briefed by the QC - the QC said something about the judge doubling the sentence for people who plead not guilty.

One case took place in a different courtroom set.

Another case saw three people in the dock - two men, one woman - the QC was representing just one of the men and the woman - the other man (actor Kevin Lloyd - later to play Tosh Lines in The Bill) conducted his own defence.

In another case, the usher committed the crime of actually SPEAKING - when asked to show an exhibit to a witness, he was not concentrating - when the QC said "Usher", the usher was heard to say "Sorry" - later on in the case, he has to show another witness an exhibit - in this case, I think it was a pair of scissors - he then made some comment about having worked at Harrod's - the judge then said to him "Get out! Get out of my court!" The ads came on, then the case continued with a new usher.

Another case featured a journalist who worked on a programme called News File - played by the actor who played Kit Curran (I think his name is Denis Lawson) - part 2 of the story played a clip from News File that was pertinent to the case. Also featured a scene where a man with a Northern Irish accent, in response to something a witness said, said something about "thousands of other bloody Irishmen" - not sure if he was a juror (an actor planted in the jury) or somebody in the gallery.

Despite being on the screen as long as it was, little was known about the regular characters' lives outside of Fulchester Crown Court - there were regular judges and QCs with the same name and played by the same actor/actress - but viewers knew nothing of what they got up to once they went home afterwards. The most viewers ever learned about one barrister - a Mr Woolfe - was that he was a homosexual - he admitted it by saying to a witness after being asked about it "As a matter of fact, I am!". It was never mentioned again.

Arthurvasey (talk) 23:44, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Observations: 1) Someone should mention the return of the programme (8/12/17), with Robert Rinder to introduce it and Cal McAninch as Jeremy Parsons QC. 2) The treason case was in 1973. Up to that year, anyone convicted of high treason could opt for death by beheading, although this did not apply to piracy and arson in a naval dockyard. Smlark (talk) 20:17, 16 December 2017 (UTC)

Mistake

In February 1974 the scheduled Traffic Warden's Daughter was replaced by The Getaway. In 1979 Heart To Heart, intended for transmission from 15 to 17 April, was replaced by a repeat of A Ladies' Man (originally broadcast 15–17 February 1977). Although neither story was ever broadcast on terrestrial TV they both received airings on Legal TV and have since been released on DVD.

"Heart to Heart" has not been released on DVD to the best of my knowledge. 2.100.64.100 (talk) 20:20, 20 January 2021 (UTC)