James R | On 23, Oct 2019

BBC Two has commissioned a second season of Defending The Guilty.

Produced by Big Talk (Rev., Mum, Cold Feet, Friday Night Dinner), and written by Kieron Quirke (Cuckoo), based on the book Defending The Guilty: Truth And Lies In The Criminal Courtroom by Alex McBride.

The series follows Will Sharpe (Giri/Haji, Flowers), as Will Packham – an idealistic pupil barrister being shown the ropes by his cynical, worldly-wise pupilmaster Caroline, played by Bafta Award-winner Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd, Humans). Initially believing his role is to serve justice, Will is regularly disillusioned as he learns to manipulate a tricky and underfunded system that refuses to fit his moral assumptions.

At the same time, he’s dealing with his fellow pupils, each of them after the same single job and happy to stab each other in the back to get it.

Additional cast includes Mark Bonnar (Catastrophe) as Miles, Gwyneth Keyworth (Black Mirror) as Danielle, Prasanna Puwanarajah (Doctor Foster, Patrick Melrose) as Ashley, Hanako Footman as Pia and Hugh Coles as Liam.

“Cuckoo writer Kieron Quirke hands Parkinson and Sharpe enough acerbic barbs to give the comedy an entertaining edge. Don’t feel guilty if you end up binge-watching the whole thing,” we wrote in our review of Season 1.

Episode 1 has consolidated (28 day) to an audience of 1.5m / 9.2 percent share, an increase of +31 percent on its Tuesday night slot average. The first season concluded last night on BBC Two with the whole series available on BBC iPlayer. The very next day, BBC Two has publicly given the green light for another six-part run.

Kieron Quirke says: “I’m overjoyed to be diving back into the world of 60 Bedford Row Chambers, peopled by one of the best ensemble casts on TV. Having superlative actors and the backing of the classiest production team in TV comedy really does make script-writing a tolerable thing.”

Kate Daughton, Head of BBC Comedy, adds: “The BBC Two audience have loved this brilliant first series. We can’t wait to get lost again with Will, Caroline and the gang in the moral maze that is Britain’s Criminal Justice System.”

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