ITV legal drama starring Julie Walters will follow the story of a fictional murder retrial and its jurors' lives outside court
It is a very long time to wait for a second series. Nine years after it first aired, ITV is bringing audiences the second instalment of the legal drama The Jury, with writer Peter Morgan at the helm and Julie Walters starring.
Morgan followed up the original show with a string of high-profile scripts ? he has since written Frost/Nixon, The Deal, The Special Relationship and The Queen, for which he was Oscar nominated.
But he was keen to revisit the ITV drama, which will follow the story of a fictional murder retrial and its jurors' decisions and lives outside court, across five nights next month.
"I'm a big fan of jury service ? and although the criticism is that it's costly and tends to acquit, just the idea of an 800-year system that is still so integral [is appealing]. I don't think any system that's been designed to replace it has improved upon it," said Morgan, who weaves debate about jury trials into the drama.
"I'm a big believer of the combined life experience of 12 people ? whether you go from someone who can barely read and write to highly-educated, rich and poor ? that body of experience taken collectively is very, very powerful life experience.
"There are so many nuances that even an unbelievably sophisticated legal system cannot address, and human instinct is powerful."
Walters stars as a barrister defending a man convicted for the violent murder of three women he met on the internet, leading a cast that includes Steven Mackintosh, Anne Reid, Sarah Alexander, Aqib Khan and Roger Allam. " I can't imagine doing [that job]. That was why it was so lovely to play her: being able to be combative and articulate and ordered in your thinking," said Walters.
"I'd never played anyone like that before, and I've never been in this kind of drama. I loved the coolness and the clearness and the factual nature."
Walters, who said she spent time following barristers at the Old Bailey in preparation for her role, has recently starred in a number of biographical films including Mo, A Short Stay in Switzerland and Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story.
It was a something of a relief to be playing a fictional character again, the actor said. "You don't have that kind of responsibility to someone's family and loved ones that you have when you're playing someone like Ann Turner or Mo Mowlem. So [there's] much more freedom."
Morgan himself will never serve as a juror, thanks to "an indiscretion as a young man at university" that means he has a criminal record for a minor offence. "The trial brings people together in a way that really intrigued me. Anybody in this country can be a juror, even as you can see from one of the storylines, someone who isn't a British citizen ? You can write how we are today," he said.
The drama looks beyond the decision of the jury and its members' experience of court, and unpicks their lives outside court ? from a just 18-year-old, to a devout Christian, and a man who lives at home and cares for his mum.
"I only unlocked the story of The Queen by having [Tony Blair] in it. And similarly here it only unlocks the personal stories by having a crime whodunnit going right through it like a skewer," said Morgan.
The writer said that the long wait for a second series of The Jury came to down to miscommunication. "ITV hadn't approached me and I hadn't approached them and I think I assumed from their silence they didn't want one and they assumed because I'd been writing films I wouldn't do one, so we just got into this impasse of misunderstanding."
Asked if a third series was a possibility, Morgan said he would be keen to develop the drama further.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/21/the-jury-returns-after-nine-years
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