BLIND JUSTICE: WHITE MAN LISTEN (TV)
Summary
One in this British drama series about a group of idealistic lawyers. In this episode, attorney Frank Cartwright tries to prove that Nola Marshall, a black woman arrested for drunk and disorderly behavior, was beaten to death by police in her jail cell; and attorney Katherine Hughes reaches her breaking point when she is assigned to defend a white supremist who knifed a black teen on a train, and later is forced to defend a rapist. In preparing his case, Frank learns that Nola was a doctor and an admitted alcoholic who on several occasions gave statements in court about police brutality against blacks. The coroner's inquest into Nola's death is marked by a large black community presence as well as a large, intimidating police presence as Frank attempts to punch holes in the collective story of an entire police station that claims Nola's death was caused by a drunken fall. Meanwhile, tensions mount at the Grimshaw firm where Katherine works when she refuses on political grounds to defend an alleged rapist in a consensual rape case and later refuses to take the case of Gavin Blinkho, a member of a neo-Nazi survivalist group, who is charged with the attempted murder of a black youth who was threatening passengers on a train. Katherine is later forced by Grimshaw to defend the alleged rapist when the attorney on the case attempts suicide. She wins the case in favor of the rapist in standard fashion, by attacking the moral character of the victim, and afterwards so is horrified with what she has done that she quits her firm to join Frank, James Bingham, and the others at Fetter Court. Meanwhile, James defends a young man accused of stealing a silver cigarette case from a political official. The suspect says the official gave him the case as payment for sexual services, and later James has an unpleasant lunch with his father, Lord Bingham, who tries to exert pressure on him to hush up the case so as not to harm the politician's reputation. Katherine's abandonment of Blinkho turns into a full-blown legal mess when he threatens to drag her in front of the bar counsel, portraying himself as a victim of the legal system. Meanwhile, a right-wing newspaper puts together a sensational article to support Blinkho's case, painting Frank and the staff of Fetter Court as radical socialists and brutally attacking Katherine Hughes as a promiscuous, leftist, ex-alcoholic. Later, at the inquest, Frank is able to get testimony damaging to the police from three witnesses, including a doctor who saw Nola at the jail, another prisoner who heard her being beaten, and the store owner who called the police about her disturbance of the peace in the first place. After the inquest jury delivers its verdict, Frank asks Alex Grimshaw to get the Blinkho case off Katherine's back and Katherine receives a death threat from a neo-Nazi.
Details
- NETWORK: BBC (United Kingdom)
- DATE: 1988
- RUNNING TIME: 1:30:39
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:16387
- GENRE: Drama, legal
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, legal; International Collection - United Kingdom; Lawyers; Neo Nazis - drama; Police - Complaints against - drama; Rape - drama; White supremacy movements -drama
- SERIES RUN: BBC (United Kingdom) - TV, 1988
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Michael Wearing … Producer
- Peter Norris … Associate Producer
- Rob Walker … Director
- Helena Kennedy … Series created by, Series Consultant
- Peter Flannery … Series created by, Writer
- David Mason … Production (Misc.), Production Manager
- Colin Towns … Music by
- Jane Lapotaire … Cast, Katherine Hughes
- Jack Shepherd … Cast, Frank Cartwright
- Julian Wadham … Cast, James Bingham
- Clarke Peters … Cast, Alton Phillips
- Carmen Munroe … Cast, Mrs. Marshall
- Tommy Eytle … Cast, Mr. Marshall
- Robert Gillespie … Cast, the Coroner
- Alan Devlin … Cast, Collins
- Daniel Hill … Cast, P.C. Turnell
- Gary Powell … Cast, P.C. Milnes
- Anthony Douse … Cast, Dr. Taylor
- John Barrard … Cast, Mr. Barnes
- Corinne Skinner-Carter … Cast, Nola Marshall
- Christopher Whittingham … Cast, the Jury Foreman
- Christopher Leaver … Cast, the Yew Tree Road Sergeant
- Ewan Stewart … Cast, Gavin Blinkho
- Milo Sperber … Cast, Michael Feingold
- Peter Sproule … Cast, Mike Findlay
- Michael Feast … Cast, Clive Curran
- Philip Lowrie … Cast, Milligan
- Colin Dudley … Cast, Colin Blinkho
- Gary Beadle … Cast, a Boy on Train
- Jason Campbell … Cast, a Boy on Train
- Martin Multon … Cast, a Boy on Train
- Harry Beety … Cast, a Train Passenger
- Oscar Peck … Cast, a Train Passenger
- Michael Wisher … Cast, the Magistrates Chairman
- Ninka Scott … Cast, the First Clerk to the Magistrates
- Carmina DeGale … Cast, the Solicitor
- Caroline Hutchison … Cast, Lorraine
- Joanne Campbell … Cast, Tessa Parks
- Eamonn Walker … Cast, Hugh
- Raad Rawi … Cast, Michael Khan
- Tom Marshall … Cast, Ken Gordon
- Michael Fitzgerald … Cast, Rupert Holmes
- Tamara Hinchco … Cast, the Stipendiary Magistrate
- Debbie Manship … Cast, the Second Clerk to the Magistrates
- Peter Blacker … Cast, the Crown Prosecutor
- Nigel Nevinson … Cast, the Antrobus Solicitor
- Sheila Chitnis … Cast, Bisakha Patel
- Norman Tipton … Cast, Paul Watson
- Wensley Pithey … Cast, Sir Charles Bingham
- Ernest Clark … Cast, Alex Grimshaw
- Sam Cox … Cast, Tom
- Duncan Bell … Cast, Edward
- Toby Salaman … Cast, Alan Ackroyd
- Celia Imrie … Cast, Mrs. Welsh
- John Tallents … Cast, the Prosecuting Counsel
- John Baker … Cast, Mr. Justice Merrick