Defending The Guilty Series 2 confirmed
- Legal-based sitcom Defending The Guilty is to return to BBC Two for a second series
- Will Sharpe, Katherine Parkinson and the rest of the cast will return in 2020 for six more episodes
- Writer Kieron Quirke says: "I'm overjoyed to be diving back into the world of 60 Bedford Row Chambers"
BBC Two has ordered a second series of Defending The Guilty, the legal-based sitcom starring Will Sharpe and Katherine Parkinson.
The comedy, which launched as a pilot in 2018, and has just concluded its first series on BBC Two follows Will Packham, an idealistic pupil barrister being shown the ropes by his cynical, worldly-wise pupilmaster Caroline. Initially believing his role is to serve justice, Will is regularly disillusioned as he learns to manipulate a tricky and underfunded system that refuses to fit his moral assumptions. At the same time, he's dealing with his fellow pupils, each of them after the same single job and happy to stab each other in the back to get it.
The recommission follows the news that the first episode of the series was watched by 1.5 million viewers across 28 days. All six episodes were made available on iPlayer.
Kieron Quirke, who has been writing the scripts based on the book by Alex McBride, will now work on six more half-hour episodes.
The characters of Danielle (played by Gwyneth Keyworth), Liam (Hugh Coles), Pia (Hanako Footman), Ashley (Prasanna Puwanarajah) and Miles (Mark Bonnar) are all expected to be present in the new series.
Kieron Quirke says: "I'm overjoyed to be diving back into the world of 60 Bedford Row Chambers, peopled by one of the best ensemble casts on TV. Having superlative actors and the backing of the classiest production team in TV comedy really does make script-writing a tolerable thing."
Kate Daughton, Head of BBC Comedy, says: "The BBC Two audience have loved this brilliant first series. We can't wait to get lost again with Will, Caroline and the gang in the moral maze that is Britain's Criminal Justice System."
Saurabh Kakkar, executive producer at production company Big Talk, adds: "We've been overwhelmed by the response to the series and are thrilled that the BBC is allowing us to spend more time with our talented gang as Kieron expertly ties their moral fibre in knots."
Series 2 of Defending The Guilty is expected to be filmed and broadcast in 2020.