Showtrial spoilers

[Etinoxaurus]

Any binge watchers care to join me?
At normal pace No Spoilers

But was it an indicator of guilt or innocence? I know a big deal was made about her wearing the bracelet (and it matching a certain colour top she'd worn) at the festival in the photo?

I really enjoyed it but there were some gaping plot holes. We never really found out what happened that night. Did Dillon leave T alone at their house to go to Hannah's house with the scarf round his neck/in his pocket in order to kill her?

Why would Hannah let him in if she was creeped out by him and wanted to report him? He doesn't look the type to break into a house.

Did T's dad know about the abuse at parties or not? He said to Cleo he hadn't known about her Mum abusing her, which suggests he was fine about the other abuse.

I know it's fiction but - Talitha is guilty as hell!

@EdgeOfTheSky

When T was leaving C’s office at the end, why the close up of her wrist to show she wasn’t wearing the bracelet?

Shit, I didn't catch that.

@WhoWants2Know

Why’s that important?

We were meant to come to our own conclusions , but the fact that Dillion panicked and tried to burn the scarf was very significant ( of course)
He knew they could have searched the property
and they would have found it anyway.

I'm shocked that Hannah let him into her house as well. I'm more likely to believe she might have let them both in as that might have made her feel safer having another woman around , even one she wasn't that friendly with anymore ( but they did used to be friends )
Plus he said they had sex before the ball as well ( which might explain the semen sample being found on her ) although he may have lied about this of course !
I believe that Talitha was there that night.
The abuse I'm not sure about as her mum did say she was a liar when it suited her. Even though her parents were awful ..
Who knows ? The 'fooled them all ' comment was a tease too.

I'm guessing the inference is that she was wearing the bracelet during the murder and it was therefore tainted and a reminder of their guilt. So she stopped wearing it (if you believe that Talitha helped to kill Hannah).

I binged this and finished last night. I did enjoy it. I found myself thinking “based on the evidence presented in court I’d find him guilty but I have reasonable doubt about her”. They could never absolutely prove Talitha was at Hannah’s house that night. I still couldn’t make up my mind about her but yeah, based on the evidence presented Dhillon was there, admitted he was there, had sex with Hannah. Lack of evidence for Talitha for her the “not guilty” verdict. I could imagine they did go round together though. I think Dhillon’s history went against him, especially the “misunderstanding” about him not using a condom with the other girl (Lucy?). That was a pretty awful revelation even if they did make out she was unreliable.

Loose ends that annoyed me included the semen DNA - how come that was never mentioned? Dhillon said he was performing oral sex on Hannah when she died..also I am skeptical that they could have gone from a huge fallout and argument at the ball plus formal complaint against Dhillon to a threesome at 4am but this was never really questioned. Also at one point Dhillon says he knows he’s weird and mentions being “on the spectrum”. It wasn’t clear to me if he really was Autistic or if people were making jokes. If he was Autistic that could explain some of his social awkwardness and anxiety but it was never mentioned again? I would have thought if he was Autistic they’d have used it as part of defense (and yes I am Autistic myself and a big weird with social issues and anxiety).

Overall I enjoyed it and wanted to know what happened but it could have been done a bit better…I would have liked a flashback to see exactly what did happen but then I guess the point is that the police and people in court never know the full truth themselves!

I thought the point was that Tal manipulated Chloe to fight and win for her. In the same way she'd always got Dillon to do her dirty work inc. the murder.

Plus he said they had sex before the ball as well ( which might explain the semen sample being found on her ) although he may have lied about this of course

He admitted he had lied about that.

I think she was innocent . There was no real evidence linking her to the scene. And the whole threesome story didn’t fit in with the fact that Hannah had made complaints against Dylan and didn’t seem likely to shah him willingly, and the fact that Talitha and Hannah were not friends any longer. Also the scarf. If Talitha had used it to kill Hannah, and had been the leader in what happened afterwards with disposing of the body, then how come Dylan ended up with it in the cottage?

Talithas comment at the end to Cleo was just an example of her dark humour.

I was under the impression he never actually was let in to the house, and that the flashbacks weren’t actually based on what happened but were just to represent Talitha and Dhillon’s versions of the story.

I think it seems as though Dhillon broke into Hannah’s house before forcing himself on her and then murdering her.

Still not sure about Talitha. I think she’s a genius and knew exactly what she was doing the whole time, how to manipulate people. Doesn’t necessarily mean she’s guilty though

My husband said this reminded him slightly of Meredith Kercher's murder (Talitha being the "Foxy Knoxy" equivalent). Anyone else think that? I did. In as much as they were both students and it's unusual for a woman to be accused of a sexually motivated murder like this one.
What I thought was refreshing about this drama was that we never actually saw what happened - bar the party and the CCTV and the stuff that investigators would have actually known. We are like the jury - we know what what they know (they even got to see Talitha's character as she chose to give evidence). Dhillon had to own up and say he was there because the police had evidence of his presence, there was no actual evidence against Talitha apart from the bracelet (which was inconclusive once they found the festival photos). I think at the end of the day it came down to reasonable doubt in her case. Certainly she was rather an unpleasant person, but that wouldn't be enough to make her guilty. Dhillon wouldn't have killed Hannah without Talitha's influence, but no proof that she was actually there. Having covered many trials over the years I am generally of the opinion that if they are in the dock they are almost certainly guilty (because of the high burden of proof it takes to get them there in the first place) - certainly the police and CPS believed she was guilty, but proving that beyond reasonable doubt is another thing.

@LillianGish , hence the importance of the unprofessionalism of the DI who had a class / personality mission against Talitha, and her failure to disclose the footage of Dhillon taking possession of the scarf.

I thought she was innocent as well and that Dillon acted by himself.

The actress who played Talitha was great.

Really enjoyed this. I was certain the outcome would be D found Guilty, T found Not Guilty. As to whether T really was Not Guilty, on balance I think yes, but we'll never know!

Amazed the University of Bristol agreed to let them film there. The supposedly elite University of Avonmouth, consolation prize for Oxbridge rejects, stuffed full of posh druggie students with a sexual harassment problem and abysmal pastoral care, was not a good advert for higher education in Bristol.

It was bugging me that I knew I'd seen Sweet Baby James before, so I looked him up. Matthew from Strike (Robyn's fiance), also Davos's son from GoT. I'd never have guessed he was from NI (he was using his own accent in Showtrial).

The evidence needed to put Talitha at the scene had been washed up by Hannah’s mum. She washed up the glasses they’d all been drinking from. Can’t remember how many there were, but if there were three then I’d say Talitha was guilty - the defence were able to cast doubt on the bracelet evidence, but it would have been harder to say her DNA got on a glass on a previous occasion. The jury had to acquit Talitha, but being found not guilty doesn’t mean she didn’t do it. I think she did - they just couldn’t prove it.

Finished watching this today absolutely brilliant!

I binged watched and enjoyed the series. I loved the fact that you can't be quite sure what happened that night but on the whole I believe Talitha was innocent because there just wasn't any evidence that she had been present and it must be difficult to not leave some trace of your dna at a murder scene. Hannah's mother did wash up the glasses but nothing was said about her having cleaned anything else.

Re the bracelet, I had to go back and check but in the final scenes where Talitha visits Cleo before she goes off to Paris, you can clearly see the bracelet on her right wrist when she says "It's funny to think that you were just the duty solicitor..."

I also thought the final scene with the heart gesture and the blowing a kiss was a nice touch.

Dylan couldn’t have put a dead body in the bin and dragged it to the river on his own . Even with a clear head … just too heavy …

Thank you Popetthetreehugger, that was exactly my thoughts as well. Dhillon didn’t look the strongest of chaps to manage that and he seemed so dependant on Talitha I doubt he’d have gone to the house himself.

So I maintain that Talitha was there and she was guilty. Remember the dead teacher’s confession about her fantasy and there seemed something reckless (more sexually adventurous?) about her. (Why Hannah would let them in the house is another thing.)

Ultimately, as other pp have said, I agree that there wasn’t the weight of evidence to convict her.

Yes, I thought of Meredith Kercher too.
The journalists annoyed me - they’d have been done for contempt of court and Talitha would have had lifelong anonymity for the allegations of sexual abuse.
But overall, I loved it.

Great acting. I really enjoyed it.
One thing annoyed which which was that the trial would have been more like ten months than ten weeks after the murder. James wife was still heavily pregnant, Talitha 's hair hadn't grown, and the judge referred to Dillon having spent 80-odd days in custody when sentencing him.
I 'm not sure if poor little rich girl Talitha was guilty or if she made the sex abuse claims up. Perhaps the alternate not proven verdict they have in Scotland should be extended to the rest of the UK!

Ps the actress playing Cleo had a lovely shaped head. Fabulous acting from her and whoever played Talitha. Nice to see some new faces instead of Suranne Jones and the other regulars.

@Papergirl1968

Ps the actress playing Cleo had a lovely shaped head. Fabulous acting from her and whoever played Talitha. Nice to see some new faces instead of Suranne Jones and the other regulars.

It was nice to see young talent ! I agree