
Intelligent script, excellent performances and the twist and turns of this BBC TV Drama make for a nail biting and compelling watch.
The first season took place in Bristol with the death of a working-class student at an elite university proving to be a tough crime for investigators to solve. The first season themes explored privilege and how justice works in the British legal system.
It returns for a second season with Brighton serving as the location and like its predecessor there are five episodes that give plenty of time for the characters to be developed. In most cases these dramas suffer second season problems with a lack of new ideas and the audience not showing the same enthusiasm. However, I feel that SHOWTRIAL revisited has improved on the first season, adding depth and even more “did they or did they not do it” drama.
This stand-alone story follows the same template as Series 1. The first three episodes set the scene (with flashbacks) and the last two take the form of a court room drama. It makes for nail biting TV.
This time around it is about everything from PTSD, climate change, police moral dilemmas and online conspiracy theories. You may think the writer was suffering from ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ syndrome, but Ben Richards manages to keep the plot realistic. Not only this but many real-life topics are threaded through the drama such as, disruption caused by climate change activists and police WhatsApp chat rooms.

Marcus Calderwood (Barney Fishwick) is a founder of activist group Stop Climate Genocide, which has made many enemies along the way. Calderwood gets knocked of his bike in a hit and run and is left to die in a ditch. When the paramedics arrive, his last words were that a police officer (PC Justin Mitchell) had deliberately ran him off the road.
Michael Socha plays Justin Mitchell, the man who is initially called Officer X, who denies killing or having any part in Calderwood’s death. It does seem though that he is hiding something and the two have history together.
Justin blamed Marcus for the death of a pregnant woman, stuck in a car that had been in a collision and who he was late to attend the scene for because of Climate Genocide’s demonstrations blocking roads. It is clear that Mitchell was traumatised by this event as he witnessed her death and feels guilty he couldn’t do more.

Mitchell is charismatic and arrogant, and he knows the system and plays the game to frustrate the investigators. However, his weaknesses reveal themselves gradually in the interrogation room and what you understand about him becomes ambiguous.
It becomes clear that the prime suspect’s greatest fear is to be pitied, and it this that makes him tick and vulnerable in the interrogations.
Throughout all of this, PC Mitchell remains chipper and seems to be almost enjoying himself. This is surprising as there is a lot of circumstantial evidence pointing to him to be the culprit.

Mitchell requests the services of defence solicitor Sam Malik (Adeel Akhtar, who you might of recognised in the film Fool Me Once or Enola Holmes on Netflix), who is known for getting clients off on seemingly unbeatable charges. Malik argues that everyone even the most horrific criminals is entitled to a defence.
Mitchell does recognise that he needs to be defended by “the most annoyingly persistent little twat you will ever meet”. Their interactions are at first defensive, then slowly transitioning into trust and finally their relationship becomes quite moving.
This is perhaps because Sam has his own secrets and mental health problems that Justin can relate to.

There are a myriad different characters at play, from the police to the CPS to the barristers on one side, and the friends and associates of the accused on the other.
But it is Micheal Socha as Justin who steals the show with his performance. He is a complex man, who at the start you struggle to like but at the end you can’t help but feel sorry for.
Suspense is an important ingredient for court room dramas and SHOWTRIAL has it in abundance.
It is well filmed; the script is tight and the acting universally superb.
There is plenty to enjoy about SHOWTRIAL and I really think people should be talking about it more! Watch it and get the word out.
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