Defending the Guilty - What the Must Watch Reviewers think

Must Watch reviewers Scott Bryan and Hayley Campbell share their thoughts on Defending the Guilty, a sitcom about new barristers on BBC Two.

Will Packham is an idealistic pupil barrister - or idealistic for now. Can Will hold onto his principles and prove he has what it takes?

Defending the Guilty is available now on BBC iPlayer.

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Scott says: "I didn't find it funny enough"

“It’s based on a book by Alex McBride and it’s written by Kieran Quirk. It’s about four barristers all competing for a permanent job. You usually expect everything to have a real moral compass, and everything to be swish and high energy in shows about the legal system – this is not that.

“This is – possibly – a more accurate portrayal, in conveying the difficulty, the long hours that many people have who are competing to work within the legal system.

“It’s not necessary an advertisement for the job.

“It is a fascinating portrayal of the fact that, by law, you need to have legal representation. It could be that you don’t believe the person you’re with is innocent – but your legal duty is to represent them and say they didn’t do it. It’s a weird moral interplay, and explores how some people might ignore the moral compass just to get ahead in their careers.

“The only niggle about this is that I didn’t find it funny enough. It’s uneven.

“Not necessarily a must watch – but if you work in the criminal justice system, you’ll enjoy it. Which is perhaps quite niche.”

Hayley says: "The main character is deeply irritating"

“I’ve watched enough police procedurals to believe that barristers know what they’re doing – but maybe they don’t.

“It gives an idea that everybody is winging it.

“It had occasional good lines. The whole time I was really conscious of thinking ‘these words are written on a page by somebody who thought he was being clever'. And it felt a bit smug.

“I found that the main character, who’s supposed to be this idealistic, loveable underdog, was deeply irritating.

“Katherine Parkinson, from the IT Crowd, is amazing. She’s a great comedic presence. Every scene she’s in is elevated by her being there.”

Defending the Guilty is available now on BBC iPlayer.

Must Watch is available as a podcast every Monday evening from BBC Sounds, or through your podcast app.

In this week's episode as part of our crime special, we also reviewed Crime and Punishment, a documentary series on Channel 4 - and Criminal - a new Netflix drama series.

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