Katherine Parkinson

Defending the Guilty: review

Though the plot is engaging, it feels as if it ends too quickly.

The fate of the inept, self-obsessed barristers and their lowlife clients didn't seem to matter much when the six-part comedy Defending The Guilty started a couple of weeks ago.

Who cared which of the four trainees landed the coveted post in chambers? They were all as selfish and shallow as each other. But after three episodes, a more compelling story has started to take shape as shy student barrister Will (Will Sharpe), who wanders around in a millennial daydream with his headphones on, has accidentally fallen in love with a juror.

Katherine Parkinson is especially good as his needy pupil-master Caroline, ordering him to call her 'Mummy' and fetch her sticky pastries.

The show is based on the autobiography of a real-life legal trainee, Alex McBride, and although some of the incidents do feel too closely cribbed from real life, it is all shaping up to be much better than it originally seemed.

Worth a second look.

Caroline (Katherine Parkinson) and Will (Will Sharpe) viciously butt heads with Lady Justice once again, this time over the case of an elderly victim and an unrepentant thug. The real aggression, however, is reserved for the pupils' competition back at chambers. What new dirt has Danielle dug up on Pia?

It is law and order with a heavy helping of dry sarcasm in this new comedy series from Cuckoo writer Kieron Quirke, which follows an idealistic trainee barrister as he has his career motives put to the test by his cynical pupil master Caroline (Katherine Parkinson). This week, infidelity is in the air - should Will come clean?

A welcome fresh outing for Will Sharpe, now vouchsafed his own star vehicle. Defending the Guilty is, at first sight, a slightly flimsy paint-by-numbers legal comedy, with all that normally entails - gentle humour, misunderstandings, pious frettings over diversity. Its game is raised by a modicum of sharp writing and some glorious comedy performances, chiefly from Sharpe and Katherine Parkinson, and I'm a reluctant convert thanks to some decent surprises.

Defending the Guilty review

Legal shows tend to be either unbearably earnest or wretchedly cynical, but this sitcom embraces the silliness of a serious world - and really steps up to the bar.

Defending the Guilty, review

Tired jokes and one-dimensional characters don't help this legal comedy win its case.

TV review: Defending The Guilty

Given the Supreme Court deliberations are dominating the news today, this is either the best or worst day to launch a comedy about lawyers.

Defending the Guilty: overstuffed with stereotypes

A new adaptation of Alex McBride's memoir is not quite as funny as it thinks it is.

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New legal comedy struggles to get off the ground.