Crown Court (TV series)
| Crown Court | |
|---|---|
| Starring |
John Barron William Mervyn John Alkin Bernard Gallagher Dorothy Vernon Peter Wheeler T. P. McKenna |
| Opening theme | Sinfonietta by Janáček, 4th movement |
| Ending theme | Distant Hills by the Simon Park Orchestra, composed by Peter Reno |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 11 |
| No. of episodes | 879 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 23 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Granada TV |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Picture format | PAL (576i) |
| Audio format | Mono |
| Original release | 18 October 1972 – 29 March 1984 |
Crown Court is a television courtroom drama produced by Granada Television for the ITV network which ran from 1972, when the Crown Court system replaced Assize courts and Quarter sessions in the legal system of England and Wales, to 1984. It was transmitted in the early afternoon.
A court case in the crown court of the fictional town of Fulchester would typically be played out over three afternoons in 25-minute episodes. The most frequent format was for the prosecution case to be presented in the first two episodes and the defence in the third, although there were some later, brief variations.
Unlike some other legal dramas, the cases in Crown Court were presented from a relatively neutral point of view and the action was confined to the courtroom itself, with occasional brief glimpses of waiting areas outside the courtroom. Although those involved in the case were actors, the jury was made up of members of the general public from the immediate Granada Television franchise area taken from the electoral register and eligible for real jury service: it was this jury alone which decided the verdict. Indeed, contemporary production publicity stated that, for many of the scripts, two endings were written and rehearsed to cope with the jury's independent decision which was delivered for the first time, as in a real court case, while the programme's recording progressed. However, the course of some cases would lead to the jury being directed to return 'not guilty' verdicts.
After an unscreened pilot (see 'Untransmitted stories' below), the first story to be shown was Lieberman v Savage (18 to 20 October 1972). Unusually this was a civil case, whereas the vast majority of subsequent instalments featured criminal trials, with only occasional civil cases such as libel, insurance or copyright claims.
There were some subtle changes in presentation in the early years. In the first year or so stories often opened with photographs of key figures or incidents around the alleged offence over which the court reporter would narrate the background to the case. In other instances there were filmed sequences but these were without dialogue and rarely showed the alleged offence. They were phased out a little earlier than the photos. Thereafter the action would immediately start in the courtroom.
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