|
|
 |
Crown Court: Volume 4
R2 - United Kingdom - Network Review written by and copyright: Paul Lewis (14th June 2008). |
|
The Show
 The Granada-produced television series Crown Court ran from 1972 to 1984. It appeared at the dawn of what has come to be labelled ‘daytime television’ in the UK: in 1972 the Postmaster General (Christopher Chataway) lifted the restrictions on the number of hours television could be broadcast in a day, allowing for channels to broadcast during the daytime and therefore negating the necessity for the afternoon ‘closedown’. Following this development, ITV began to transmit 20 extra hours of television per week, developing a range of afternoon programmes and extending its provision of children’s programming. Daytime television programming became a hot topic, with most of the shows tailored towards retirees, housewives and shift workers. ITV began to use these extra hours to broadcast shows like the long-running soap opera Emmerdale Farm, quiz/game shows (for example, Jokers Wild) and light entertainment shows such as Tea Break, hosted by the team of Michael and Mary Parkinson. ITV also began to screen the court-room drama Crown Court in an afternoon slot; the show was broadcast three times a week, and each story ran over three episodes. The daytime format has gone through relatively few changes: daytime television today is still dominated by soap operas and light entertainment shows/‘chat’ shows, although over the last ten years there has been a steady growth in daytime ‘reality’ television (which is relatively cheap to produce) at the expense of both traditional quiz/game shows and television dramas like Crown Court. More’s the pity, because as evidenced in Network’s fourth volume of episodes from Crown Court (covering the episodes broadcast during 1973 and 1974) although the demands of a thrice-weekly drama meant that there were some stories of questionable quality the series was more ‘hit’ than ‘miss’. The format of Crown Court actually evolved from The Verdict Is Yours, a series that Granada had produced between 1958 and 1963. However, whereas The Verdict Is Yours had been a wholly unscripted and improvised show (with a cast who mostly had backgrounds in the legal profession), Crown Court was very tightly scripted, with each story essentially being divided into three parts: the first episode tends to deal with the case for the prosecution, the second episode tends to deal with the case for the defence, and the third episode in each story contains the summing up and the jurors’ verdict. Only one aspect of the show was unscripted: aside from the foreman, the jury consisted of members of the viewing public and their verdicts were entirely unscripted, which can sometimes result in surprising outcomes to the cases presented within the show. Some episodes began with a narrator explaining the context of the case that the viewer was about to watch, and other episodes simply threw the audience into the middle of the case. Some stories are very linear and have a clear outcome, but other stories throw a ‘left curve’ into the proceedings and develop in an entirely unpredictable way. Set within the fictional Fulchester Crown Court, the series is visually static but rarely less than complex and involving. There is a strong balance of storylines that deal with serious matters of criminal intrigue and those that offer a strong element of humour: within this fourth volume, the range of stories extends from ‘A Right to Life: Abbs V Richards’, a complex and challenging case involving a doctor who has performed an abortion on a mentally-challenged young woman (one of the strongest and most affecting stories in this set, featuring a very good performance from Edward Hardwicke as the doctor in question), to the almost comic ‘The Night For Country Dancing: Regina V Airey’, in which a high-living hairdresser is charged with tax evasion and her three ‘sugar daddies’ are paraded through the dock as witnesses. (The third episode of ‘The Night For Country Dancing’ begins with a witty observation by the narrator that sets the tone for this particular story: as the narrator says, ‘Things have changed since Biblical times. The wages of sin used to be death, but today they’re a luxury home, an exotic car and fancy holidays, and an expensive boarding school for your children. At least, that’s how Barbara Airey explained her way of life. Did her three lovers keep her in style, or was it all a lie to cover up her income tax evasion?’) Other touches of humour involve, in ‘To Catch a Thief: Regina V Halsey’, a tramp falling asleep in the courtroom and confusion over the colloquial meaning of the word ‘bread’: Eddie White (played by Sam Kelly, mostly known for his roles in sitcoms such as On the Up) tells the court he stole a bag because he ‘thought there might be some “bread” in it’. Of course, he means money but initially the judge thinks that Eddie actually means that he thought the bag contained loaves of bread. A few of the stories are very much of their time, and were clearly designed to be topical: for example, ‘My Old Man’s a Dustman: Regina V Cousins’ deals with the fallout of the 1972 Deposit of Poisonous Wastes Act through its focus on a case involving a group of people who have allegedly dumped 2,000 gallons of poisonous acids, metals and chemicals; the case hinges on whether or not the group of people were aware of the illegality of what they were doing and the toxicity of the materials that they dumped. Other stories have over time acquired even greater relevance: ‘Just Good Friends: Regina V Beaumont’ covers a case in which a young and naïve journalist has misguidedly tried to ‘humanise’ several post-war figures of prominence through an exploration of their private lives and has suggested that two politicians, who forged a strong friendship during the War, were involved in a gay relationship. It’s an interesting and balanced critique of so-called ‘yellow journalism’, which in these days of celebrity gossip, character assassination and the paparazzi seems perhaps more relevant than it might have done in 1973. This story, and others (such as ‘Mrs Moresby’s Scrapbook: Regina V Moresby’, which focuses on an actor who makes a complaint against a woman named Moresby for allegedly trying to blackmail him with the accusation that he sexually assaulted her young daughter in a cinema), indicate that Crown Court is frequently challenging and covers issues that are still controversial today, from child abuse to race-related crimes. Episode Breakdown: Disc One: ‘To Catch a Thief: Regina V Halsey’ - Episode One (23:48) - Episode Two (25:04) - Episode Three (23:57) Small-time crook Eddie White (Sam Kelly) has stolen a car with a bag in the trunk. Seemingly unbeknownst to Eddie, the bag contains a priceless painting by the French Impressionist Pizarro, which has been stolen from a local dealer named Brabazen. Ronald Halsey (Keith Drinkel) is suspected of taking the painting, but he claims that Erika Brabazen (Sheila Gish), the owner of the painting, is trying to ‘frame’ him. It seems that she has only recently taken out insurance protection on the painting and may have fabricated the theft in order to claim this insurance money. ‘Just Good Friends: Regina V Beaumont’ - Episode One (24:44) - Episode Two (24:27) - Episode Three (25:00) Guy Paget and Sir Richard Jeffcoate (Patrick Barr) forged an alliance during the war; after the war, both went in to politics and were known for their close friendship. After Paget’s death an author, Nigel Beaumont (Tony Anholt), developed a book about the two men’s friendship; the book contained the oblique suggestion that the two men were gay lovers. Beaumont threatened to publish the book unless Jeffcoate gave him £10,000, and the police were called in. Jeffcoate was discovered by police after an attempt to gas himself in his house, and this was when the blackmail plot was revealed. Beaumont is to be tried for blackmail. ‘Who Was Kate Greer?: Regina V Archer’ - Episode One (24:40) - Episode Two (24:58) - Episode Three (24:55) Celia Alcott (Sylvia Brayshay), student and women’s lib activist, has already been convicted of stealing an antique vase from the home of one of her history lecturers, Professor Martin Archer. However, it seems that Winifred Archer (Ruth Trouncer) may have perjured herself and misdirected the jury in the trial of Celia Alcott. The case against Mrs Archer has been brought by the Students’ Union at the university. It’s discovered that Celia Alcott was having an affair with Martin Archer; Archer later killed himself, after Alcott was found guilty, possibly due to the belief that he was developing a cancer or perhaps over his relationship with Celia Alcott. Disc Two: ‘A Right to Life: Abbs V Richards’ - Episode One (24:53) - Episode Two (24:36) - Episode Three (25:04) Dr Paul Richards (Edward Hardwicke), ‘a well-known and controversial expert on mental deficiency’, is the defendant. Richards performed an abortion on a ‘mentally subnormal’ patient, Sarah Abbs (Lesley Dunlop), after she became pregnant to Michael Penny (Leo Dolan)—Penny has already been tried for having sexual intercourse ‘with a person of mental disability’; Abbs has an IQ of 48. ‘The Inner Circle: Heywood V Blower’ - Episode One (24:24) - Episode Two (24:50) - Episode Three (24:31) Megan (Georgina Ward) & Janine Watts have formed a psychotherapy group/cult called ‘The Open Box’. After transferring their activities to a place called Chute Hall, they enlisted a new recruit, Tony Blower (Tom Kempinski). However, unbeknownst to them Blower is a journalist who works for The Sunday Nation. In his article about the cult, Blower described the group as ‘harmful’ and ‘fraudulent’, claiming that The Open Box led its participants to a state of hysteria and encouraged them to participate in orgies of drugs and sex. Martin Heywood (Shane Briant), The Open Box’s secretary, is suing Blower for libel. ‘The Black Poplar: Regina V Tressman’ - Episode One (25:22) - Episode Two (24:54) - Episode Three (24:43) The case revolves around a council workman who has been wounded by shotgun pellets whilst lopping down a poplar tree in the garden of Pauline Tressman (Pauline Letts). Tressman was concerned about the tree as she believed it had a preservation order on it. When the workmen refused to stop work, Tressman promised that she would ‘kill anyone that touches that tree’ and apparently shot one of the workmen. Disc Three: ‘The Open Invitation: Regina V Sellars’ - Episode One (24:12) - Episode Two (24:26) - Episode Three (24:35) Mrs Bascombe’s (Anne Kristen) child has apparently been abducted by Maureen Sellars (Jane Carr). When police arrived at Sellars’ home, they found the child there and discovered Sellars confusingly calling the child by the name ‘Amanda’. ‘Beggar on Horseback: Regina V Erringburn’ - Episode One (23:40) - Episode Two (24:31) - Episode Three (24:52) Was an overcoat stolen from a cloakroom by Graham Erringburn (James Cossins), former personnel manager at Wright-Samkins Metal, Ltd.? The coat was found in his home, but did he take it by accident or by design? What relationship does the event have with the political structure within the company? Erringburn claims he is being framed by one of the owners of the firm, Philip Samkins (Donald Hewlett), because he would not take part in an occupation of the factory in protest at its impending takeover. ‘The Night For Country Dancing: Regina V Airey’ - Episode One (25:03) - Episode Two (24:57) - Episode Three (24:02) Mrs Barbara Airey (Frances Bennett) is charged with making a false statement with intent to defraud the Inland Revenue. Airey’s extravagant lifestyle is at odds with her declared income as the owner of a hairdressers, and it seesm that much of her undeclared income has come in the form of ‘gifts’ from her mostly married suitors. Disc Four: ‘Mrs Moresby’s Scrapbook: Regina V Moresby’ - Episode One (24:08) - Episode Two (24:50) - Episode Three (24:35) Mrs Grace Moresby (Samantha Reeves) accused the actor Geoffrey Hainton (Frederick Treves) of sexually assaulting her young daughter in a cinema. Hainton has called Moresby in for a charge of attempted blackmail. Hainton claims that the girl was behaving in a ‘troublesome’ way in the cinema and was curt and aggressive with him when he challenged her. ‘My Old Man’s a Dustman: Regina V Cousins’ - Episode One (24:32) - Episode Two (24:44) - Episode Three (24:51) 2,000 gallons of poisonous acids, metals and chemicals were dumped into a quarry, in contravention of the 1972 Deposit of Poisonous Wastes Act. ‘The Judgement of Solomon: Regina V Kamuny’ - Episode One (24:42) - Episode Two (24:47) - Episode Three (24:50) Mr & Mrs Kamuny (Louis Mahoney and Claudette Critchlow) are charged with attempting to cause grevious bodily harm towards the foster father, William Hathaway (David Butler), of their daughter Letitia. Hathaway was hit when Mrs Kamuny opened the passenger door of their car. According to Hathaway, the Kamuny’s have also been regularly practising some kind of black magic outside the foster family’s home.
Video
Crown Court was shot on VT. There are some moments which show a deterioration in the material that was available to Network: for example, in the third episode of ‘A Right to Life’ there is a video anomaly (some ‘rolling’, at 11:05) which lasts for a few seconds or so. Otherwise, the episodes are remarkably well-preserved. The episodes are presented in their original ratio of 4:3.
Audio
The series is presented with a 2.0 mono soundtrack. There are no problems with volume, although there are a very small number of audio drop-outs (in the first episode of ‘The Inner Circle’ there is a three second period of silence, at 16:50) and a few instances of buzzing on the soundtrack (in the third episode of ‘Just Good Friends’, for example). There are no subtitles.
Extras
There are no extra features.
Overall
Crown Court is a frequently sharply-written and well-performed courtroom drama. Its insight into the social issues within British society of the 1970s is immense, and in fact many of the stories deal with issues that are still relevant in today’s society. It’s a fascinating insight into an aspect of daytime television that has sadly fallen by the wayside, and features appearances from many recognisable faces, from Shane Briant to Richard Wilson. It’s by no means an ‘action-packed’ show, but the careful writing, intriguing premises and strong performances make this show a strong recommendation.
|
|||||
|