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Judge John Deed is the longest-running legal drama ever produced by the BBC,
but it is also one of the more eccentric examples of the genre. It offers a
myriad of conflicting personal, commercial and political agendas against the
background of a frequently inefficient and old-fashioned legal establishment but
still insists, through its title character, that the system is ultimately a
force for good. Martin Shaw plays a High Court Judge of working-class origins
who, although he bucks the system at every opportunity, is in fact deeply
entrenched within it, since practically his entire family and all of his friends
practice law.
The essential premise is certainly unlikely, and has been the source of some
derision from critics. Almost every week, Deed is seen presiding over cases
being prosecuted by his ex-wife or defended by his on-off girlfriend (with
occasionally help from his daughter), while pressure is invariably brought to
bear by his ex-father in law - a senior judge - the Lord Chancellor's department
or even the Home Secretary, his ex-wife's new partner. Although a little
ludicrous, given the small, rigidly hierarchical and confined world of the law
courts, this is nonetheless dramatically very useful. Writer-producer G.F.
Newman has made this somewhat repetitive formula smoother over the years by
moving closer to a serial format, with plots developing over several episodes.
The romantic entanglements of the passionate, relentlessly libido-driven Deed
point to a compulsive, even self-destructive side to his nature. In fact, when
he finally goes to see a sex therapist, he ends up in bed with her. In 'Nobody's
Fool' (tx. 12/12/2002), he even rekindles an affair with the wife of his main
nemesis, Sir Ian Rochester. This keeps Deed from being a completely idealised
heroic figure.
The series is at its best when tackling such topical issues as reality TV
('Popular Appeal', tx. 17/2/2005), incest between mother and son ('Judicial
Review', tx. 4/12/2003) and, especially, the potential danger posed by telephone
masts ('Health Hazard', tx. 27/11/2003; 'Economic Imperative', tx. 26/1/2004;
'Silent Killer', tx. 27/1/2006). The prospect of jury-less trials appears in
various episodes and Deed himself is called for jury service in 'One Angry Man'
(tx. 3/2/2006). Its handling of the MMR jab controversy ('Heart of Darkness',
tx. 10/2/2006), however, was widely criticised as irresponsible for going
against the prevailing, and now largely accepted, medical wisdom that there is
no causal link to autism.
Sergio Angelini
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