The Trial: A Murder in the Family ***warning - contains spoilers***

[NapQueen]

Anyone watching along? Starts tonight, 9pm, C4. Runs for five nights. I loved Broadchurch, and have been on a Jury, and love anything like this.

Hope its good!

radip times link

The judge said to the jury near the end 'do not discuss the case with anyone except amongst your number' or something very similar to that.

This has confirmed what I've always feared about being on jury service; the other jurors

I think we are being a bit unfair to the jurors here, it's the first night and they haven't been on too much.

Bear in mind also that they know this isn't a true case and is just an insight into the system, therefore we won't be seeing necessarily their true thoughts and feelings.

When all is said and done Juries usually do get it right.

Michael Gould is a brilliant actor...seen him on stage.

So hard to know if his character is guilty or not yet,

My understanding was the jury can discuss it amongst themselves in the deliberation room but not outside it. Unfortunately the case I was on was dropped in the second day so I didn't get to do my 12 Angry Men bit. I can clearly remember hearing solicitors in all areas of the court discussing their various cases which I thought was a bit odd so maybe I misheard the rules.

I suppose they have to have scenes of the jury discussing the case to show their thought process / how they feel about the evidence/ how they come to the verdict.

I did jury service last year and so far it's extremely accurate to my experience. We did discuss the case in the jurors room we sat in before going in to the court room but mostly dispersed when discharged for lunch as most did their own thing, wandered in to town etc. There was another case going on which was obviously a long trial and all the jurors in that case sat together. You do get a lot of breaks and everything happens very slowly.

I was amazed by the other jurors, one guy wanted to declare to the judge we couldn't agree after an hour because he was bored! Several people didn't take it very seriously at all, most were keen to act responsibly however a couple of the younger jurors were very distressed and making up reasons why they felt the defendant was guilty rather than going on the evidence. I wouldn't want to be judged by them!

Yes that was pretty much my experience, its actually frightening. My fil did it and had people doing that "oh they probably did this, probably thought that" type of thing.

Oh I'm glad there's a thread for this! Just got around to watching it, felt a little unwell last night so had an early night!
I'm so gripped already.
Tablefor4 I also think it was the new boyfriend! Il be surprised if they say the ex husband did it.

Some of the jury are getting on my wick .

The acting is superb. Especially Carla's sister giving evidence. Im hooked

Yes I'm really struggling to know who is acting and who isn't! Excellent acting.

Me too! If I was on the Jury Id be totally convinced it was real.

So, do the jury know this isn't a real case? I thought they didn't.

That's what I want to know! They can't know it's fake can they? Otherwise I don't see how it could work. It's based on a real case.

bet he abused the ex

I have absolutely no idea whether he killed her or not. I've changed my mind about 10 times.

The jury know it's a fake case and that's why they are being interviewed. To get their thoughts at different stages.

Cherry "they call me a witch at work" (I don't think it's a compliment luv) is getting on my nerves with her "gut feeling". I wouldn't want her on a jury.

I don't know if he did it or not, but if I was on the jury at this point, I wouldn't be able to find him guilty. There is too much reasonable doubt.

I agree, I couldn't convict at this stage.

Bloody scary how much faith people have in their instincts though - and how quickly some people have made up their minds.

The 8 minutes between phone calls thing is what's bothering me the most...

It's scary that some of them are relying on their feeling or "gut" instead of the evidence.
The "witch" one especially seems to think that her "gut feeling" is some sort of magical oracle. She shouldn't be on a jury.

I would say I work on intuition and gut feeling a lot but its basic stuff to just go by the facts in a court case surely?! I think people also forget jury duty is a serious job with huge consequences.

It's well made I think, dh and I argued last night because he was adamant the police officers weren't actors. It was only when I pointed out that the crime scene they described wasn't real that he conceded accepted grudgingly I was right.

The historic photos of the sisters together and all those details must have taken a lot of planning and work to add to the realism of the show. It's very interesting.

The woman and her 'gut feeling' is awful though. Makes you realise how weak the system is as someone like that with her 'thoughts' could hugely influence others on the jury. I'm glad that the teacher reminded her that it's not actually about her 'thoughts' !

There seems to a lot of wild speculation flying around the jury room, including maybe the baby was conceived through rape.
A lot of people projecting their own experiences / beliefs.
Overall the whole deliberations seem to be the jurors feelings about the people involved rather than reviewing the evidence/facts of the case.

I did Jury service a few years ago. I found it fascinating and wish I worked in a court. I sat on 3 trials, the first one I felt intimidated and didn't really agree with the outcome but I felt some of the jurors were rushing others to a quick decision so they could go home early! On the next two trials I really pushed myself to get involved and raise more questions. On the last trial the charges were so ridiculous and the defendant so obviously vulnerable I did my absolute best to persuade the other jury members to find her not guilty, which we did.

I was enjoying it until i read this thread. I didnt know that it wasnt real although in the back of my mind i knew that you werent allowed to film inside uk courts.