By Darren Waters BBC News Online entertainment staff in Edinburgh

Lord Falconer says footage will be for evaluation but not broadcast

But the Lord Chancellor, announcing the pilot at the Edinburgh Television Festival, said footage would not be for general broadcast.

"We will not have OJ Simpson-style trials in Britain," Lord Falconer said.

The pilot exercise will take place at the Court of Appeal and a major public consultation on the issue will be launched later in the year.

The pilot scheme would not involve juries and witnesses would not be filmed, Lord Falconer said.

He was in favour of allowing filming if it helped to increase public confidence in the criminal justice system.

We don't want our courts turned into US-style media circuses Lord Falconer

But it was unlikely television cameras would ever be allowed into trials, he said.

Sky News, which is lobbying for televised access to court rooms, said: "By holding a full consultation the Lord Chancellor is taking the initiative towards our ultimate goal of the workings of the court being seen by everyone."

Lord Falconer said cameras in the court room would be a "big step".

"We have to make sure that any such step would benefit justice not burden justice.

"We don't want our courts turned into US-style media circuses."

He said that justice had to be seen to be done but the priority was that "justice is done".

Consultation paper

Lord Falconer said that if justice was not done in public it risked losing public confidence.

"So my strong inclination is that such considerations outweigh the benefits of the public broadcasting of trials."

He said that while it was unlikely that trials would be broadcast, there was no reason why the wider concept, in particular filming appeals, could not be considered.

Lord Falconer said: "The time is ripe for a debate: Other institutions of comparable standing have changed - a generation ago filming Parliament was unthinkable, but now it is indispensable to proper democratic openness and scrutiny."

He said that a government consultation paper would examine all of the issues surrounding filming and the courts in England and Wales.

The pilot filming has been organised in partnership with ITV, BBC, Sky, ITN, Channel 4 and Five.

It will take place in the Court of Appeal in the Royal Courts of Justice in London.