| Crown Court | |
|---|---|
| Format | Legal drama |
| Starring | John Barron William Mervyn John Alkin Bernard Gallagher Dorothy Vernon Peter Wheeler T. P. McKenna |
| Opening theme | Sinfonietta by Janáček, 4th movement |
| Ending theme | Distant Hills by the Simon Park Orchestra, composed by Peter Reno |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 11 |
| No. of episodes | 879 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 23 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Granada Television |
| Picture format | 1.33 : 1 / colour |
| Audio format | monoaural |
| Original run | 11 October 1972 – 29 March 1984 |
Crown Court was an afternoon television courtroom drama produced by Granada Television for the ITV network that ran from 1972, when the Crown Court system replaced Assize courts and Quarter sessions in the legal system of England and Wales, to 1984[1].
A court case in the crown court of the fictional town of Fulchester would typically be played out over three afternoons in half-hour episodes and the most frequent format was for the prosecution case to be presented in the first two episodes and the defence in the third, although there were some later, brief variations. Although those involved in the case were actors, the jury was made up of members of the general public from the local Granada Television area taken from the electoral register and eligible for real jury service: it was this jury alone which decided the verdict. Indeed, production publicity of the time stated that, for many of the scripts, two endings were written and rehearsed to cope with the jury's independent decision which was delivered for the first time, as in a real court case, when the foreman was asked by the actor playing the judge, while the programme's recording progressed. However, the course of some cases would lead the jury being directed to return "not guilty" verdicts.
Unlike some other legal dramas the cases in Crown Court were presented from a relatively neutral point of view rather from the perspective of any particular party and the action was confined to the courtroom itself with occasional brief glimpses of waiting areas outside the courtroom. The stories featured a wide variety of criminal charges and also some civil cases such as libel, insurance or copyright claims.
The first story to be transmitted was "Lieberman vs. Savage" from 18 to 20 October 1972. Unusually this was a civil case, whereas the vast majority of subsequent instalments featured criminal trials with an occasional libel dispute providing a civil exception. There was an untransmitted pilot or experimental episode called "Doctor's Neglect?" which was eventually broadcast as part of a repeat run on satellite channel Legal TV over thirty years later. Like the first transmission this was a civil case - in this instance of negligence. The pilot story differs in style in some important respects. Most notably it featured informal conversations between the barristers in their quarters as well as them giving advice to clients. Neither aspect figured in broadcast episodes which strictly confined legal discussions to the courtroom. David Ashford, a regular in the programme's early stages as barrister Charles Lotterby, played a barrister called Derek Jones. Actors Ernest Hare and David Neal made their only appearances as a judge and barrister respectively.
This was not the only example of untransmitted stories. In February 1974 the scheduled "Traffic Warden's Daughter" was replaced by "The Getaway". In 1979 "Heart To Heart", intended for transmission from 15—17 April, was replaced by a repeat of "A Ladies' Man" (originally broadcast 15—17 February 1977). Although neither was ever broadcast on terrestrial TV they both received airings on Legal TV. "Doctor's Neglect?" and "Traffic Warden's Daughter" have since been released on DVD.
There were some subtle changes in presentation in the early years. In the first year or so stories often opened with photographs of key figures or incidents around the alleged offence over which the "court reporter" would narrate the background to the case. In other instances there were filmed sequences but these were without dialogue and rarely showed the alleged offence. They were phased out a little earlier than the photos. Thereafter the action would immediately start in the courtroom.
Although the standard format was stories with three episodes each lasting twenty-five minutes there were occasional variations. In 1973 there were two stories lasting just one and two episodes respectively. The Christmas "special" mentioned above lasted fifty-two minutes. In July and August 1975 a number of stories were presented in single extended episodes at 8.15pm on Saturdays - a prime time scheduling. They occupied a slot of seventy-five minutes with just over one hour for the story on-screen after adverts were taken into account. This was a brief interlude and the programme reverted to its standard format and daytime location thereafter.
The series was occasionally humorous and was even capable of self-parody. On 27 December 1973 an hour-long self-contained episode "Murder Most Foul" had a distinctly light-hearted theme and even featured special Christmas-styled titles and music. The 1977 story An Upward Fall, written by absurdist playwright N. F. Simpson, was played for laughs. In this bizarre case, an old people's home was built atop a cliff some 3,000 feet (910 m) high but had its only lavatories located at the foot of the cliff.
Regulars included William Mervyn, John Barron, John Horsley, Edward Jewesbury, Richard Warner, Basil Dignam, Laurence Hardy, Frank Middlemass, and Basil Henson as judges, John Alkin, David Ashford, Keith Barron, Jonathan Elsom, Bernard Gallagher, Peter Jeffrey, Charles Keating, Maureen Lipman, T. P. McKenna, Dorothy Vernon, Richard Wilson and William Simons were among the most common faces as barristers.
Future famous names to appear on the show included Eleanor Bron, Warren Clarke, Tom Conti, Brian Cox, Philip Bond, Michael Elphick, Sheila Fearn, Colin Firth, Brenda Fricker, Derek Griffiths, Nigel Havers, Bernard Hill, Gregor Fisher, Ben Kingsley, Ian Marter, Mark McManus, Vivien Merchant, Mary Miller, Geraldine Newman, Judy Parfitt, Robert Powell, Peter Sallis, Michael Sheard, Juliet Stevenson, Mary Wimbush and Mark Wing-Davey.
Its writers included Ian Curteis, David Fisher, Peter Wildeblood, John Godber, Ngaio Marsh, N. F. Simpson and Jeremy Sandford.
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