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  3. Garrow's Law: Tales from the Old Bailey

Garrow's Law: Tales from the Old Bailey

Legal drama inspired by the life of pioneering 18th century barrister William Garrow.

Programmes:
on BBC iPlayer (4)
Previous programmes:
by year (4)

Available now on BBC iPlayer

  1. Watch the latest programme

    Episode 4

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    Watch now (60 minutes)

    Available since Sunday with 6 days left.

    4/4. Mary Hamer begs Garrow to defend her husband, whose case takes a surprising turn.

  2. Also available

    1. Episode 3

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      Watch now (60 minutes)

      Available since Sun, 15 Nov 2009 with 6 days left.

      3/4. Garrow successfully defends the detestable Edgar Cole much to Lady Sarah's disappointment.

    2. Episode 2

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      Watch now (60 minutes)

      Available since Sun, 8 Nov 2009 with 6 days left.

      2/4. Garrow, now a celebrated Old Bailey barrister, defends the case of the infamous Monster.

    3. Episode 1

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      Watch now (60 minutes)

      Available since Sun, 1 Nov 2009 with 6 days left.

      1/4. Young, idealistic barrister William Garrow is instructed to defend a helpless serving girl

Featured

Character profile: William Garrow (played by Andrew Buchan)

A passionate believer in social and legal justice, as a defence counsel Garrow's desire is to change the law and revolutionise the proceedings of a criminal trial forever: to give defendants the representation in court that they had never previously had, at cost not only to their innocence but also their lives. His championing of the poor and his onslaught on the corrupt reward-driven criminal justice system makes him some powerful enemies. But he is also his own worst enemy - falling in love with Lady Sarah Hill, who is married to a powerful MP. Professionally and personally, William Garrow is a man who cannot resist confronting the status quo.

BBC Press Office: interview with Garrow's Law star Andrew Buchan

Character profile: John Southouse (played by Alun Armstrong)

Southouse is Garrow's mentor - an attorney/solicitor who took on the idealistic young man as an apprentice at the age of fifteen. A sober and disapproving 'father' to Garrow's wayward, iconoclastic 'son', their relationship is at the same time warm and combative. Southouse despairs of Garrow's behaviour in and around court, but is also impressed by the results he gets. At times, Southouse instructs Garrow in a case and gives the brief to defence counsel, but when all of Southouse's clients start expressly asking for Garrow as their counsel he knows he has to bow to the inevitable.

Character profile: Silvester (played by Aidan McArdle)

Silvester is a prosecuting counsel, and thus Garrow's rival in court. He's also a man very much on the side of the status quo. Silvester is languid, insouciant and thinks he is Garrow's social superior, but he has a gnawing sense that, in Garrow, he has more than met his match. Silvester would have been perfectly happy treating the law as a 'game for gentlemen', but with the emergence of Garrow into the Old Bailey he knows he has to up his game and do whatever it takes to win the cases against him, by fair means or foul ...

Character profile: Lady Sarah Hill (played by Lyndsey Marshal)

Sarah is a would-be social reformer, but is hampered in any such ambition because she's a woman, and because she's caught in an establishment marriage. In Garrow, with his passion for change, Lady Sarah sees a like-minded soul. She has to help him surreptitiously and, more than that, she also has to hide the passion that she is beginning to feel for him ...

Character profile: Sir Arthur Hill (played by Rupert Graves)

An MP with a special interest in law and order, Sir Arthur Hill is sharp, witty and ambitious. His ambition makes him dangerous and he dislikes Garrow's attitude, perceiving his radical intentions as a threat to the law. However, he also begins to see Garrow as a threat to his marriage to Sarah. For both of those reasons, he wants Garrow brought down ...

Interview: Garrow's Law co-creator & writer, Tony Marchant

Writer Tony Marchant discusses what first engaged him in the story of William Garrow, a brilliant young barrister who, in the space of 10 years, revolutionised the legal system.

BBC Press Office: interview with Tony Marchant

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