North Square

I was sorry to hear of the demise of this series after only one season; it seemed to have a lot of potential despite a lot of over-writing and some rather farcical story-lines. Essentially it's `This Life' injected into `Rumpole.' Like most good series the interest was in the characters and their interaction and there was a great line-up here. There are the two young cavaliers, Alex (Rupert Penry-Jones) and Billy (Kevin McKidd), their spouses Helen (Victoria Smurfitt) and the redoubtable Rose (Helen McCrory), Morag (Ruth Millar) and Stevie (Sasha Behar) the duelling juniors. Towering over them all, is Peter McLeish (Philip Davis), nominally a mere clerk, but to all intents and purposes the boss. McLeish will do almost anything to advance the careers of his barristers, including it seems getting them struck off. The farcial element is mainly provided by the clients, or at least by the close relationship McLeish feels he has to cultivate with the crime bosses of Leeds, where the series is set, to hustle briefs for his chambers.

As befits a series of this sort there's lots of bonking and an almost unbelievable amount of drinking. Maybe that's the way they do things in the north of England; my recollection of the Sydney bar is that heavy drinking was a minority occupation and anyone with enough energy left for sex was clearly neglecting their practice. As for sex with an instructing solicitor, nothing could be further from most barrister's minds. However the court stuff here is cool. North Square member Tom Mitford (Dominic Rowan) has a great line in final speeches to the jury which sometimes even work on judges sitting without a jury – there's nothing harder than swaying a judge's emotions. Rose is also a star, and even Alex, the series male bimbo, does some good work from time to time.

But McLeish dominates proceedings. He's the master of the unexpected, keeping his own staff on their toes and his barristers well supplied with booze and briefs. The last episode explains a lot about the character and his motivation, but the Svengali act seems second nature. It's certainly the most swashbuckling portrayal of a barrister's clerk seen on the screen, but not a million miles from reality. Think of ex-Private First class Wintergreen, in the book `Catch 22', who did command assignments at Allied HQ, of whom even generals were afraid.

A really excellent legal drama that has unfortunately been cancelled after one series, North Square was almost unique in combining witty dialogue, interesting plots, superb acting and a good sense of legal life both in the courtroom and out of it, without resorting to the sordid emptiness of 'This Life'. A true cult TV series.

Here in Australia our ABC is currently doing a repeat screening of this top notch British legal drama/comedy, and not a moment too soon. 10 episodes is just not enough of North Square and it's completely criminal that more were never made.

North Square may not be a realistic portrayal of legal life (though my own experiences as a law student and one-time article clerk do make me wonder if there is a grain of truth in North Square) but it has witty dialogue and fascinating characters. It's hard to pick a favourite part of North Square but my vote goes to barrister Tom Mitford's method of swaying juries and judges - with quotes from The Merchant Of Venice....it's adaptable to any case, even indecent exposure.

But there are heaps of great moments in this show. Find a copy, watch it, and let it endear you to the legal world of Leeds.

Having just watched the 1st episode on 4oD, I am reminded just how superb this show was (and anything using a track from The Clash as a theme tune gets my vote!)

Far too many legal dramas on TV, yet this stand out got the chop, but I also recall Channel 4 not really hyping it much at the time either. In this respect it was like BBC's 'Bodies', in a TV world massively over saturated with medical dramas, this was a major stand out too, albeit uncompromising. But at least that got a 2nd series and a full length finale. (Like another soon axed work of art, the comedy on BBC3 'Pulling').

I guess it's demographics, they'll hype up the pandering, lowest common denominator 'reality' dreck knowing they'll get a decent enough audience however bad it is. The good stuff all too often has not only fight to get made, but also fight to get promoted.

For some reason, until I saw it again, I had it in my head that North Square was made around 1990, within minutes the mobile phones and Apple Macs in the show reminded me otherwise. This is I think, maybe a reflection of how not only was it axed after 10 episodes, but I don't recall it even being repeated or released on DVD either.

However I do recall newspaper articles citing North Square as an example of excellence that cost cutting budgets could not sustain, or rather Ch4 would rather spend money on lame imports and Big Brother.

It all started to go wrong for Ch4 when the TV expert that was the Pizza Hut CEO took over the channel.

North Square was an excellent one-hour drama series with a great cast and great characters. The scripts were plausible and funny and it looked like a sure-fire hit. What happened? We only get one series of this and yet we're on the third series of the lame 'Teachers'. North Square was a sharp as The West Wing in places. Sometimes I really don't understand how television works.