This is a very difficult series to review aside from its age. It's much more old fashioned in style, acting, direction and camerawork and the scripts are mundane but realistic.
In fact, the entire series has both a 'real' feel to it as well as a 'stage production' feel.
The closest comparison I can make is the old British 'The Practice' series about a country doctors' practice and their complicated private lives. That series had the same writing, acting and 'feel' as this one which I can't quite explain. Something about the pretentious snobbery and entitlement of most of the main cast and the way the patients and, in this case the criminals, are all portrayed as lesser human beings. There is a kinda soap quality about both series.
In The Brief there is much more of a contrast between the professionals and the clients and not only are all the criminals et al horrible, disgusting people but there aren't any likable characters in the whole show. Except perhaps for Hughes, the only unqualified but excellent Magistrate's clerk, who worked his way up from tea boy. This is brought up on many occasions and it seems to me the writers were making a relevant social and political statement.
The episodes are short and sweet and deal quickly with more than one case at a time. The crimes range from petty to serious but there is no violence or bad language. It's all rather white-washed. But that's refreshing.
Sometime there are repeat offenders but since Amazon Prime showed many of the episodes out of order it was difficult to keep up with the order their offenses were committed and the continuity of some of the briefs' personal lives. It didn't really matter. Each episode was relatively self-contained with the main cases dealt with there and then but many sub-plots were never fully explored and I found myself wondering what might have happened to the suspects or victims.
There was something weirdly enjoyable about the series other than it just being set in Wales but I'm not sure what exactly.
I did notice the background actors were remarkably well directed and always busy doing realistic things quite naturally. That helped create the realism and the fact that they'd already be going about their business before the camera caught sight of them is commendable.
One hopes that people's fate was not decided in such a haphazard and unprofessional manner in the real world at that time but it certainly kept things interesting in this Magistrate's Court.
It's certainly not PC in the 2025 world but I found that delightfully refreshing.
