Defending the Guilty

Defending the Guilty is a British television sitcom, starring Will Sharpe and Katherine Parkinson as London barristers. The programme was broadcast in the United Kingdom from 19 September 2018 on BBC Two. A second series was commissioned, but it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Defending the Guilty
Genre	Sitcom
Written by	Kieron Quirke
Directed by	Tom George
Starring	Will Sharpe Katherine Parkinson Gwyneth Keyworth Hugh Coles Hanako Footman Prasanna Puwanarajah Mark Bonnar Claudia Jessie
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	6
Production
Executive producers	Kenton Allen Saurabh Kakkar Jim Field Smith Kieran Quirke Kate Daughton
Producer	Georgie Fallon
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Big Talk Productions
Original release
Network	BBC Two
Release	19 September 2018 (2018-09-19) – 22 October 2019 (2019-10-22)

Production

The series was created by Kieron Quirke and based on the 2010 best-selling memoir by Alex McBride (a criminal barrister).^[1]

Cast

• Katherine Parkinson as Caroline Bratt, a senior barrister and Will's pupil master
• Will Sharpe as Will Packham, a junior barrister and pupil
• Gwyneth Keyworth as Danielle Sadler, a junior barrister and pupil
• Hanako Footman as Pia, a junior barrister and pupil
• Hugh Coles as Liam Mingay, a junior barrister and pupil
• Prasanna Puwanarajah as Ashley Jeevaratnam, a senior barrister and Danielle's pupil master
• Mark Bonnar as Miles Flynn, the Head of Chambers and Liam's pupil master
• Claudia Jessie as Nessa, Will's girlfriend

Episodes

Series	Episodes		Originally released
			First released	Last released
Pilot	1		19 September 2018 (2018-09-19)
1	6		17 September 2019 (2019-09-17)	22 October 2019 (2019-10-22)

Special

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date [2]	U.K viewers (millions) [3]
0	"Pilot"	Unknown	Unknown	19 September 2018 (2018-09-19)	N/A
Will is a naive, 29-year-old pupil barrister competing with three others for the only available place in chambers. He works for Caroline, who calls herself Mummy and uses him as her personal servant. He works on the case of Mike, whose trial for attempted murder ends in acquittal due to needing to avoid revealing the identity of an informant. Will helps convicted teenage mugger Gracie avoid being imprisoned; soon afterwards she and her accomplice mug him in a tunnel as he is cycling home from work.

Series 1

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date [2]	U.K viewers (millions) [3]
1	"Episode 1"	Tom George[4]	Kieron Quirke[4]	17 September 2019 (2019-09-17)	N/A (<1.66)[a]
Same episode as pilot
2	"Episode 2"	Tom George[5]	Kieron Quirke[5]	24 September 2019 (2019-09-24)	N/A
Hetty is an obnoxious woman with a long criminal record. She is tried for assaulting Deanna, whom her partner, Lee, cheated with. He gives evidence, ostensibly to help Hetty. He deliberately gives evidence which destroys the defence's case, causing Hetty to be imprisoned for eight months. Lee is pleased to have enabled himself to gain custody of his two children by Hetty and to continue his relationship with Deanna. Will is concerned about a rumour spreading that he had a one-night stand with an attractive young juror, Selina. He says that he merely kissed her.
3	"Episode 3"	Tom George[6]	Kieron Quirke[6]	1 October 2019 (2019-10-01)	N/A
Will tells two colleagues about his encounter with Selina, that he kissed her passionately in the street and in a taxi, but that he did not have sex with her, rejecting her invitation into her house because he wanted to remain faithful to his girlfriend, Nessa. Will and Caroline's case against a mugger collapses due to the evidence against him being lost.
4	"Episode 4"	Tom George[7]	Kieron Quirke[7]	8 October 2019 (2019-10-08)	N/A
Caroline and Will defend a man with an unusual obsession, and also get to know each other a little better.
5	"Episode 5"	Tom George[8]	Kieron Quirke, Alex McBride[8]	15 October 2019 (2019-10-15)	N/A
The pupils are competing in a mock trial, complete with real actors. Liam and Danielle are paired against Pia and Will. Pia's stock has crumbled in Chambers after her sexual indiscretion. Will feels guilty about having leaked the information. Nessa finds out that Will is lying to her and confronts him about his affair.
6	"Episode 6"	Tom George[9]	Kieron Quirke[9]	22 October 2019 (2019-10-22)	N/A
The pupils must address a court for the first time, which for Will means the seemingly straightforward case of defending a drug addict failed by an uncaring system. However, his confidence is rocked by the breakdown of his relationship, and he questions if he is really cut out for a career in law. Caroline is asked to give a lecture to the female bar association, but they are less than pleased by what she has to say.

Broadcast

The programme was broadcast in the United Kingdom from 19 September 2018 on BBC Two.^[10] The show was recommissioned for a second series,^[11] but was later cancelled due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[12]

Notes

1. Not reported in the weekly top 15 programmes for four-screen viewer ratings.