Spoiler Alert: The crime is the least interesting thing about this story. I wish they would have simply forgotten about the murder and just focus on the other areas. The reason I'm watching this British series is because it has been redone on HBO in the States. Criminal Justice (The British The Night of) is a decent series. As an American I have a hell of a time with some of the accents and the lawyer guy (or whatever the hell he is) mumbles a lot and he is very difficult to understand at times. For such a small country they have a lot of messed up accents. If this is an accurate portrayal of the British court system then theirs is a lot more lacking than what we have in America. They just go back and forth between prosecution and defense instead of giving the prosecution case first and then the defense with witnesses called in some sort or order.I really wish they hadn't gone the route of a whodunit but they did and it was pretty stupid. I just didn't care by the end if he had killed her or not. I think it would have been much better if we never really knew who did it and the kid was i for a life in the can.

THIS IS A REVIEW FOR THE FIRST SEASON ONLY:Phenomenal. Ask me one word to describe this mini-series, and I'll answer you that. Then I'll urge you to go watch it. Why? Well, for starters, this show is gripping in a very subtle way with its slow-pace and it's gets increasingly hard as it goes on not to be on the edge of your seat, anxious and with a bitter taste all over your mouth(read: impossible). I ended up kind of binge-watching this in one day and, let me tell you, I've been not a trifle disappointed with the final chapter and the way things end up unwinding. Matter of fact, I'm convinced the last episode was the best in terms of tension and build-up, something quite rare in today's series where lacking scripts fit for maybe two hours are stretched into six- and then some. This was not the case at all. Last but not (at all!) least, the acting: Ben Whishaw is a gem, and a horribly underrated one at that. His restless eyes, along with his general face expressions, are what makes the character so enthralling and real throughout. Not that the words have no weight, mind: they, do of course, and the script is not faulty or vague. This guy, however, have eyes that speak volumes and the versatility with which I've seen him use them in here, as well as in another works, is truly praiseworthy. In general, every actor did a hell of a great job with the exception of, perhaps, Ben Coulter's mother who I couldn't help but feel was always stiff and even a bit robot-like in a way that didn't seemed all that natural. But maybe that's just me! Anyway, the bottom line is this makes a real enjoyable watch, if a bit bittersweet for the questions it invariably raises in us. I highly recommend this show to everyone who's into this particular genre, its high quality makes it clearly stand out from all the poorly-thought out 'dramas' we get nowadays. Congrats to the BBC on this one!

I thoroughly enjoyed the series "Criminal Justice" and was at the edge of my seat throughout. The acting on the part of Ben Wishaw was excellent as he managed to pay attention to detail in terms of his nervous ticks and facial expressions and one really could empathise with his character who was extremely endearing Ben Wishaw's performance was astounding and deeply moving. I wish I could tell him myself. Equally the portrayal of the British justice system was extremely interesting and insightful, this is really TV at its best as it deals with so many different character types each with their own unique characteristics hence the shabby looking solicitor who was first and last in representing him. the cinematography was poignant and succinct as it moved at a good pace keeping its audience encapsulated throughout.Kind Regards Kuldeep Kaur.

Engrossing and involving, if highly fictional BBC drama shown over five consecutive nights, highlighting, or should that be low-lighting the British criminal justice system, effectively putting in the dock for viewers' consideration the police force, legal system and prison office, all of whom, on the "evidence" here, are all found wanting. The programme effectively combines three main narrative strands around these institutions of modern society, from the murder incident itself and the police detective (defective?) work alongside it, the trial process set at length in a court of law and perhaps most effectively the dehumanising incarceration process within the confines of prison. Some bits work better than others. The basic murder mystery is handled somewhat freely and brought to a fairly undramatic conclusion, although it's main purpose I think was likely to be in effectively highlighting the grey area of collusion which purportedly exists between lawman and lawbreaker, here personified by Bill Paterson's career cop being surprisingly in cahoots with the Mr Big, played by David Harewood in prison. I also found the depiction of the legal system somewhat hackneyed with characters and situations just too stereotyped and really more at home in the mediocre BBC legal soap opera "New Street Law" from last year. Examples of this are the young female junior barrister getting involved (albeit lightly) with the young defendant and her barnstorming attempt to pin the murder on the dead girl's father, without even checking if he had an alibi (as of course he did). What will stay in the memory most however are the scenes in prison where the vilification of the prison service is damned to hell. There are no upholders of the law in the jail, the prison officers invariably displayed as weak, conniving or both. I really can't or maybe don't want to believe things are that bad in UK prisons with a Freddie Graham character running the place as his own fiefdom. That said, it made for taut drama, with many memorable if shocking scenes of rampant moral corruption inside. The acting is mostly very good, Pete Postlethwaite unsurprisingly, given his pedigree, taking the honours with a completely credible performance as Hooch, the hard-bitten lifer who's learned to adapt and survive but ultimately at the expense of his own conscience, which he redeems but pays for in full at the end. There are other excellent turns too, principally by Con O'Neill as the Colombo-type gumshoe who plays the situation for all he can get, Bill Patterson as the too-long-in-the-tooth detective who now blurs the line between right and wrong and Lesley Duncan as the experienced cynical senior barrister who rides roughshod over her client's feelings to get the easiest and quickest result for her. Special mention must go though to Ben Whilshaw as the innocent, out-for-a-good-time youngster who is drawn into a latter-day Kafka-ish nightmare who emerges at the end physically intact but obviously deeply affected by his horrific experiences and who in the last scene now feels outcast from the friendly football kick-about in which he participated in the opening scenes. He has a face reminiscent of John Lynch in "Cal" or David Bradley in "Kes", and portrays what must have been a gruelling role with conviction and realism. On the whole an excellent thought-provoking drama, let down only slightly by its probably necessary concessions to TV drama with perhaps more cliffhangers than would probably be the case with more typical, I would imagine, hum-drum real-life criminal cases. One caveat - would the BBC please stop its infuriating habit of trailing the succeeding programme at the end of the current programme. It's unnecessary and insulting to viewers' intelligence, especially in this instance when the programme was shown over successive nights.