Skirting the rickety scenery with surprising agility,Mrs Overall brings the cast of "Acorn Antiques some of her delicious macaroons...ooops,sorry,just a bit of stream of consciousness there,brought on by Julie Walters' playing of "liberal" defence QC Emma Watts in her best "I'm just a Brummie,folks" manner. "The Jury",which could have been done and dusted as a two - parter was dragged out over five nights no doubt because it could sell more dog food and hairspray that way.Just in time for the Christmas adverts for stuff most of us can't afford anyway.Or maybe I'm being cynical. Whatever,at the root of the programme lies the "drama"of the personal lives of the jurors,many of whom would not have passed the Jury Selection process,(Selection Process,what Selection Process?)thus making the whole concept invalid. But,regardless of such niceties,at least some of "The Jury" might have been forgivable if it hadn't reminded us of just about every Movie or TV show about juries there has ever been,and that's a heck of a lot. Indeed,"Coronation Street" the other week featured a pair of counsels who were far more convincing - and that's a soap made for about 200 quid per episode with no delusions of grandeur. Frankly after the first episode I didn't care about whether the defendant had done it or not or what the jurors did in the privacy of their own homes as long as it wasn't in front of the servants. And if I have to see Ms Walters in a "serious" role again I will try my very best to forget Mrs Overall....honest.

Having now seen parts of this twice, I think that what makes this really great, and gripping, is the character development and the acting. I especially liked the recovering alcoholic and Rose, but all the characters were well developed and real (except, perhaps, the judge, the lawyers, and the defendant - but this is about the JURY).I am as much against political correctness as the next person, but I don't think that was what this was about. That was part of the background, but not the story. The story was about the people.

Despite its fine acting 'The Jury' is just one more program/script driven by the twin Leftist (or Marxisant) orthodoxies of its time: political correctness and so-called "multiculturalism." In this film all the women and non-whites struggle valiantly, and all of them are depicted either as victims of "Eurocentric" white male culture, or as struggling valiantly to overcome their troubles (which, of course, devolve from their having been victimized by white men); and, conversely, all the white men (with the exception of the sensitive one who's working through his priestly vocation or lack thereof) are shown as neurotic, self-absorbed, inept (owing to their inability to see beyond their "whiteness" and maleness and the horrible, oppressive cultures flowing from those two characteristics) muddlers too insensible or witless to see their "issues," let alone to deal decisively or positively with them. Even the recovering alcoholic sod has to pay for the sins of his alcoholism which is, after all - as the Foucaults and gender feminists of the world tell us, a male affliction since men first concocted firewater and they're the ones who swill it and then abuse women while they're under its evil influence. The baleful mother-in-law archetype is absent herein, replaced by the male Jewish juror's veddy British, old school tie, overbearing father-in-law with whose prejudice, inveigling and meddling the muddled juror, of course - according to the PC/Leftist/feminist orthodoxy, cannot deal (his wife, of course, gets it right from the start and never wavers, pillar of feminist strength that she is).The other men in the film are the father of the murdered schoolboy and his thuggish, vengeful male relatives - the lot of them, of course since they're men, being shown to be prejudiced, vindictive, reptilian, and contemptible. And then there are the lawyers, who are mere mouthpieces for orthodox inflammatory buzzwords, gaffes, and provocations: the sort of innuendo and screed which nowadays monotonously accompany wife-abuse and sexual harassment accusations which, quite often without a case's ever going to court, are often sufficient in themselves to ruin men's reputations and careers.In sum: spare me, and the world, 'The Jury's' "postmodern" orthodox sort of preachiness. If I want to see and hear - and endure - this kind of Leftist re-education camp lecturing I can tune into BBC World - at least there, because the anchors and reporters haven't a script or the device of acting to hide behind, I can see the sneers on their permanently upturned lips.

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsKudos to ITV for the good idea of this six-parter series,which shows we can do it and that it's not just Hollywood that can make this kind of thing work.In Britain (and certain other countries) it's considered every working citizens duty to perform 'jury service'.That is,twelve people (men and women usually these days) from completely different walks of life and with presumably no previous experience of the judicial system must come together to decide the fate of a defendant on trial for a crime.In this case,a 15/16 year old Pakistani student has been accused of hacking his classmate to death in a field.It is a very high profile case which has ignited racial hatred between the White/Asian community,and the series cleverly examines not only the opinions of the jurors,but also how this alien and stressful experience affects their lives outside work.The acting is pretty good stuff.Veteran Derek Jackobi is lively,spirited and ingenuitive as the defence barrister.Plus Anthony Sher is suitably cold and uncompromising as the prosecution.The people on the jury impressively convey the uncertainty and fear that overrides them all.Jack Shepherd is a good character actor,here playing the murdered boy's father,but is given little to do except sit in the courtroom looking tense and agitated.Also,Tim Healy gets to spread his wings and fly in something that isn't another annoying Uno advert.The ending is something of a cop-out ,with a few unexplained matters not being resolved.But it's all acted with such sincerity and dash,with engaging pace and dialogue to match,that you feel compelled to watch it to the end if only to support British big/small screen productions.***