Judge John Deed: Series 3, Episode 3 – “Conspiracy” (2003)

More crime, this one with a legal bent.  The eponymous judge is of course our main character.  The episode’s court case has the lion’s share of the plot, but there’s also personal stuff – apparently, John used to sleep with one of the barristers, and guess who’s prosecuting the case he’s currently hearing?

To their credit, they put their issues aside when they’re actually in the court room.  The case – an MP charged with the attempted murder of his blackmailing ex-boyfriend – is much more complicated than it first seems.  It appears sometime is trying to manipulate the outcome.  But is it to stitch up an innocent man or acquit a would-be murderer?

 

PC plays Alan Roxborough, the possibly-law-breaking MP.  He’s recently created some trouble for himself in his crusade to uncover the truth about a string of mysterious deaths.  Prominent figures could be responsible, and they’d have the influence to frame him.  Still, his brutalized ex-boyfriend had threatened to publish letters Alan had sent him, letters that showed an unflattering side of him.  The episode does a nice job of making either alternative seem equally plausible.

 

PC’s performance has a lot to do with that.  I spent most of the episode wavering between guilt and innocence.  He’s by turns commanding, outraged, and backed into a corner.  As a closeted politician with a wife and child, his discomfort at the public discussion of his private life is ever-present.  His scene on the stand is excellent, as is the scene of him watching his ex-boyfriend give testimony; his face shows each of his many emotions in the slightest ways.

 

As an aside, I like that Alan’s sexuality is only part of the story.  He doesn’t want people to know he’s gay, but it’s not what worries him most about the letters.  Rather, they include some callous remarks about the families of the dead men he’s investigating.  Bizarrely, it’s his own barrister that makes it an issue.  He has a tendency to add “homosexual” to his pejoratives about the ex-boyfriend – calling him a homosexual sponger, for example, as if it does more to discredit him.

 

Accent Watch

 

Light Scottish, I think.  I thought he was doing RP at first, but when he’s on the stand and has longer sections of dialogue, the Scottish OO’s and OW’s are pretty apparent.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Maybe.  I don’t know about the series as a whole – the main characters don’t grab me especially – but the story is very interesting and kept me guessing.

 

PC-wise – I would.  Though a good part of PC’s screentime is just him watching the court proceedings, he’s great in all his meatier scenes.

 

Warnings

 

Brief violence and discussion of violence.  Sexual content, including references to solicitation.