The Trial: A Murder in the Family

This was a disappointing series because it used the contrivances of bad drama to obscure an important subject: the human nature of the justice system. I have been on two juries ( none a murder case) and deciding evidence is 'beyond a reasonable doubt' is dramatic enough without all the histrionics employed by this team of filmmakers. The inveterate use of close-ups is usually a good indication of bad directing; in a real trial trial there are no close-ups, just the tense space of uncomfortable people in a room together because of distressing circumstances.

Then there was the constant use of dramatic recreations. In a real trial you would have barren recreations of time and space sketched out in a video or on a whiteboard instead of these filmed dramas which could have never been used as evidence in a courtroom. Also, the timing was excruciatingly slow; there was about two episodes of material there stretched out to five overly long hours.

The drama in a real trial is the studied absence of drama and even the occasional flamboyance of a famous lawyer is looked up with distaste. Speaking of that, the defense lawyer with his organ-tone drawl was very irritating. he might as well have been selling snake oil. If he had been my lawyer, QC or not, the moment he opened his mouth he'd be out the door.

The way to due a series like this would have been to make it as realistic a trial as possible, not by hyping the drama but by revealing the boredom, the slowness of time, and the moments of real drama involving human beings and their lives. I have seen similar programs do this very effectively; one, done a few years ago, featured John Turturro as a shambolic detective. "The Night of...". That series made prison life come alive for me. "A Murder in the Family" just reminded me of a lot of bad movies.

From start to finish I was hooked. This film manages to be original, important, and thoroughly engrossing. A must-see, for lots of reasons.

Never seen anything so realistic. Keeps you gripped throughout and the bonus is we actually find out the truth at the end. 100% worth a watch!

This was very well done, for what it was trying to achieve I think it succeeded brilliantly- informative and entertaining. Definitely worth watching if you like (1) British tv (rather than American), and (2) courtroom dramas.

If you like legal dramas, this is a must see.

A mix of documentary and drama, it follows a murder case to its verdict. Without giving anything away, there's are segments towards that end of the mock trail showing flashbacks of the actual fictional murder and events leading up to it. It actually left me holding my breath, and there's a couple of very clever twists that leave you not knowing what is meant to have actually happened until the very end.

Showing accurate processes within a trial and the jury was totally absorbing. I was left emotionally drained at the end. I can't recommend this enough!