I saw the advert for this series and thought it looked interesting, but I found out as well that it was a second series of the original 2002 version, but with the first series (with Hugh Jackman) unavailable I gave this a chance, and I stuck with it. Basically, the story is unconnected to the first series, Alan Lane (Sliding Doors' John Lynch) is going on retrial, convicted for the murder of three women five years ago, all of whom he met on an internet dating site. John Mallory Q.C. (Roger Allam) is acting as the prosecutor, and Emma Watts Q.C. (Julie Walters) is defending him, but the twelve people in the jury are the people who will ultimately decide whether he is still guilty or whether evidence can prove he is in fact innocent. The jurors include single man Paul Brierley (Steven Mackintosh) who looks after his mother June (EastEnders' Anne Reid), teacher Katherine Bulmore (Jodhi May) who had an affair with a seventeen year old pupil, Sudanese immigrant Tahir Takana (Ivanno Jeremiah) who is waiting to get a visa so he can go to America and join his brother, Lucy Cartwright (Natalie Press) who is the assistant to businesswoman Theresa Vestey (Sarah Alexander) taking her place, quiet young man Rashid Jarwar (Aqib Khan) who lives with his parents and with Aspergers Syndrome, lonely woman Kristina Bamford (Branka Katic), devout Christian woman Ann Skailes (Jo Hartley), likable pensioner Jeffrey Livingstone (Ronald Pickup) and tanning salon enjoying Derek Hatch (Rory McGann, Paul's brother). As each of them are summoned for jury duty and go through the process of going to court, hearing the evidence and accusations, and questioning the witnesses and involved people, they also have big changes in their personal lives. Also starring The Kumar at No. 42's Meera Syal as Head Teacher and Lisa Dillon as Tasha Williams. The cast all do their parts, especially Walters as the determined defence counsel and Lynch as the man pleading his innocence, obviously the trial unfolding with evidence and opinions does sort of grip, the story part with Jeremiah's character being friends with Pickup trying to get somewhere is okay, the other subplots aren't all the most interesting elements, and the ending is relatively alright, all in all the series is a not bad viewing drama serial. Good!

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.

The shame is that the first user comment anyone sees when reviewing The Jury is "Political Correctness (ya-aawwwn)", a review, if it can be called that, that more reflects someone with a beef taking a Political Science course and needing to use all the big words they learned to show how smart they are. While we all have the right to voice our opinion, I strongly feel this right should not prejudice the reader (or stop them, as it will some) before they see reviews that are more valuable. Any review that has one yes against multiple no's should be at the bottom of the review list.Be that as it may, I have come to the Gerard Butler scene late (January, 2006) and because his acting ability struck me immediately and I'm interested in his progress (and why I hadn't heard of him until now), I've been watching his work. Doing that, I've come across some great movies (and a few that weren't so great). The Jury is in the great category.I'm not going to describe the film, others have done so but I do want to note that the characters lives were well depicted. The frequent use of closeups made me feel like I was standing right next to each person, seeing what he or she saw, feeling what he or she felt. It was an awesome experience. I only buy a video/DVD if it has meaning and makes me feel something, hence I only have about 75 and this is over the past 20 years. I bought The Jury.

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.***