- Radio Times
- Review by:
- David Butcher
This is the kind of untrumpeted, unshowy but thoroughly absorbing series that BBC4 seems able to turn out at will. You may have never given much thought to the twists and turns of common law in the 17th century: never mind, here’s your chance to start.
The presenter, Harry Potter, combines a jaunty name with an unlikely double career as a criminal defence barrister and Church of England priest. Here he does an excellent job of telling the story of King Charles I and the chief justice who became his great enemy, Edward Coke. The latter was, we’re told, perhaps the most disagreeable man in English history.
About this programme
2/3. Barrister and historian Harry Potter charts the development of legal rights and freedoms, many of which still exist today, in the 17th and 18th centuries. He explores the case of a lawyer who risked assassination to put the king of England on trial for his crimes against the people, a civil rights activist banished by Oliver Cromwell to an offshore prison, and a pillar of the establishment who made a judgement that dealt a blow to the slave trade.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Presenter
- Harry Potter
Crew
- Director
- Tom Cholmondeley
- Producer
- Tom Cholmondeley
- Series Producer
- John Das
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