anyone watching criminal justice?

[ByThePowerOfGreyskull]

as above

AliGryllis, in the programme, when Juliet was asked why she didn't leave, she only said "I had nowhere to go". I really would have liked them to have just pushed that answer a Bit more. The character would have done a lot for women trapped in domestic hell if she'd said "he checks my visa payments on line every day" or "we don't have a joint account" or, he put "my savings into his savings account" or EVEN, (not this severe in my case) but I don't have my own atm card, my partner gives me cash when I ask for it.

Her just saying "i had nowhere to go" must have sounded so lame to the vast majority of people who haven't suffered "financial abuse".

Having NOWHERE to go and no money when you get there is actually the number ONE reason for not leaving I would guess. The ol' cliche of women saying I love them is just part of a facade I think. It's what you say when you want people to believe that there's no problem, look the other way, don't pity ME!

iykwim. good programme, but it could have said more i think.

I agree Maggie, it could have said a lot more. For a start, there could have been an pyschiatrist in the box giving evidence as to Juliet's state of mind and the effect that long-term abuse is known to have.

I think overall the beautiful acting just about made up for the sometimes clunky writing, style (long lingering shots) over substance (more on abuse, and massive inaccuracies.

Last year's series of Criminal Justice was publicly and formally critcised by the Chairman of the Bar for being too creative with its dramatic licence.

Actually I do agree with you, the programme was flawed in that they didn't pursue anything in that much depth.

TBH I know nothing about domestic abuse or why people stay with abusive partners. The prgramme gave me the impression that a woman would stay with her partner because he makes her feel in a particular way, ie, completely useless and helpless.

oh that's funny, I thought it was going to be some comment about his viewing choices chez brown avec Sarah.

tangent here, but she looked FABULOUS on tv the other day.

Didn't quite understand [but missed previous episodes perhaps someone can explain] why she initiated sex that night? If she did not intend to kill him only herself?

i am pretty sure she didnt initiate sex,
in fact i know she said I don;t want to Jo - she lied in court, perhaps she thought that he thought she did cos she touched him accidently, blamed herself for him wanting to have sex. expecting sex, or something.

Just finished watching it. Seemed pretty realistic to me (knowing nothing about jail terms) that she got 5 years for manslaughter. So awful when they took the baby away though - I was in agony. Cannot imagine how horrible it must be to be in that situation.

Maxine Peake was superb, as was Sophie Okenedo. Peake deserves a BAFTA for that I think.

I think the initial sex bit was because she gave him a hand job first (sorry about bluntness) she had to because that was what he wanted.
When he got in bed she said something like "I'm not in the mood Joe" his response was to smash his fist into the pillow at the side of her head.
He then told her to go and get it, meaning the vaseline. The implication was if she didn't do as he said it wouldn't be the pillow that felt his fist the next time.

I have a friend who has left her partner. She told me that whenever she went anywhere she had to say exactly where and what for this included shopping so a shopping trip would be timed by her partner. He would calculate the exact time to and from the shop how long she would be in the shop and then ring her at the exact time that she should be back in the house.
At the time I questioned how feasible this was.
She then stopped meeting me saying he didn't like it. Eventually I didn't see her for ages. He went everywhere with her, including the doctors.
She stopped going out too.
This programme made me realise that it is actually based on fact sadly.

thanks for that. I just thought the writing was a bit weak with regards to that part of the story.

Lordy, just watched on iplayer. I invested 5 hours of my life watching that! Can't stop crying! (I am preggers though.)

I would have liked a glimmer of hope. The Dr should have cared for baby& Ella. And Julliet could have appealed using cash from sale of immaculate house to hire ace legal team which would have got her off on all kinds of technicalities. Quite miserable now. Sigh.

This thread has been fun though!

I do know what you mean, lenin.

I wonder though if it was RL whether her wealth would have given her an advantage, in that she could have afforded excellent legal advice for an appeal etc. Or whether her control in the stand would have come accross as cold.

Sorry I missed this thread.
Really enjoyed it.

so sh said "well what was the point of that then"

and i wasnt sure

Good point, lenin.

I think one significant point about Juliet's situation as compared perhaps to most victims of domestic abuse, is that she had sex with another man, and she was still seeing him on the QT very much behind her husband's back. Even though the doctor probably took advantage given her emotional state, she did have him to turn to and by having sex with someone else, she did show some independence.

From a plotline perspective though, the baby was vital, if only to show the tragic plight of children born to women prisoners.