Review of the second season of Showtrial – this outrageous legal drama immediately captivates you | television and radio

DAlthough it was silly, I enjoyed the first series of Showtrial, which used the death of a working-class student at a posh university to explore themes of privilege and justice in the British legal system. Viewers liked it too: it was a cheeky, popular Sunday dinner, an airport romance of a TV series that was all about believability but drew you in with its relentless twists and turns. It returns for a second, more prominent season with a similarly over-the-top sensibility – and once again I found myself drawn in, despite the nagging presence of a firmly raised eyebrow throughout much of each of the five episodes.

This time it reached into its collection of headlines and concocted a story about the tactics of climate activism, offensive police WhatsApp group chats and online conspiracy theories. It may seem like there is too much excitement, but the plot is compelling and once again touches on the class tensions within British society. The film moves from Bristol to Brighton and examines the legal process behind a newsworthy murder charge, this time leveled against a serving police officer, drawing the audience into another us-and-them-upstairs-downstairs scenario.

Marcus Calderwood (Barney Fishwick) is the wealthy founder of the activist group Stop Climate Genocide, which has made many enemies with its road blockade protests. Calderwood is knocked off his bike and dies in a ditch. As he breathes his last, he manages to deliver a dying declaration to a paramedic, naming a police officer as the man who deliberately ran him off the road. Michael Socha plays a dud as PC Justin Mitchell, the man originally cast as Officer Mitchell is arrogant, charismatic and, above all, an insider who understands the system, having experienced it on the front lines. He bypasses the superiors who question him and is surprisingly chipper considering the enormous amount of evidence pointing to him.

However, the important detail here is that, at least in the early stages of the investigation, this is entirely circumstantial evidence. Unlike straight police procedurals or legal dramas, Showtrial likes to delve into the complex details of the case. Mitchell enlists the services of defense attorney Sam Malik (Adeel Akhtar, performing his intellectual Eeyore routine to impeccable effect), known for poaching unpleasant clients with seemingly unbeatable allegations. Mitchell, guided by a keen sense of right and wrong despite believing the system is failing to serve its purpose, realizes that he must be defended by “the most annoying, stubborn little jerk you’ll ever meet.” . The issue of due process continues to be tested as Malik argues that everyone, even the most heinous criminal, is entitled to a defense. He represents the values ​​of “reason, logic and basic morality,” he tells his son, who in turn suggests that his values ​​are relics of a bygone era in the age of outrage.

The performances are strong – often stronger than the script. The need for each character to deal with a truckload of personal trauma in addition to their professional problems reinforces the impression that it may have to do with trimming the fat. Malik suffers from insomnia and has serious mental health problems, while his colleague at the Crown Prosecution Service, Leila Hassoun-Kenny (Nathalie Armin), has a demanding half-sister and a mother who is a semi-famous academic and French Marxist philosopher. Who among us can’t understand that? There are also a few gaps in his ambitious patchwork of problems.

It can feel like quoting a series of opinion pieces. It also skews latitude: poshos believe in the climate crisis, salt-of-the-earth coppers are sexist alcoholics. (A climate activist calls the Guardian “fake allies,” hence the five-star rating.) A complicated, perhaps disingenuous reason is given for Mitchell’s hostility to Stop Climate Genocide, which seems to suggest that protesters are blocking ambulances – Although even the controversial Just Stop Oil has a “blue light” policy that theoretically allows emergency vehicles through – but then it backtracks and presents a more garbled story about a driver’s lack of experience on a smaller road, which they don’t would have continued driving if they hadn’t been distracted from the highway by a protest. This is a butterfly effect taken too far.

Still, there’s plenty to enjoy at Showtrial. It’s a frothy thriller that grapples with big questions; it’s tense and twisty; and Socha and Akhtar in particular make it a compelling watch.