- Radio Times
- Review by:
- David Butcher
There are bizarre twists in this episode and several scenes that make you shift uneasily in your seat. But that’s Silk for you. Series creator Peter Moffat is back on writing duties and the sparkle’s back in the script.
“This is a drinking profession,” barrister Caroline Warwick (Frances Barber) tells Billy (Neil Stuke) when he queries her intake. “I drink fast and hard and I get up in the morning sober as a judge and twice as lively.”
Not only is “CW” keen to join Shoe Lane chambers but our heroine Martha finds herself on the opposing side in a high-stakes case. (This requires the kind of jiggery-pokery that Moffat pulls off with some sleight-of-hand and a loud cough.) It’s one of two emotionally charged cases Martha has to defend, but that’s where Silk scores. It lays bare the innards of the law where it’s all about politics and emotion. I don’t imagine the real-life Bar is anything like this, but really, who cares?
About this programme
5/6. Martha faces one of the toughest briefs of her career when she appears at the Supreme Court to represent a man on death row in Jamaica - but Billy worries about the emotional strain such a case will place on her. To add to her workload, Clive persuades her to take the Fatima Ali trial - leaving him conveniently free for the prosecution of Jody Farr, which could prove to be the making of him. Maxine Peake and Rupert Penry-Jones star in the legal drama.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Martha Costello QC
- Maxine Peake
- Clive Reader
- Rupert Penry-Jones
- Billy Lamb
- Neil Stuke
- Micky Joy
- Phil Davis
- Caroline Warwick QC
- Frances Barber
- George Duggan
- Indira Varma
- Alan Cowdrey QC
- Alex Jennings
- John Bright
- John Macmillan
- Jake Milner
- Theo Barklem-Biggs
- Bethany Brassington
- Amy Wren
- Daniel Lomas
- Shaun Evans
- Fatima Ali
- Shanaya Rafaat
- HHJ Maikin
- Pip Torrens
- Florence Henderson
- Natasha Williams
- Ibrahim Ali
- Shazad Latif
- Mohammed Ali
- Nasser Memarzia
- Leyla Ali
- Myriam Acharki
- Dr Colin Stiller
- Nick Fletcher
- DS Adam Lambert
- Andrew Scarborough
- Dr Malik
- Prasanna Puwanarajah
- Michael Connolly
- Will Keen
- Lord Winter
- Richard Durden
Crew
- Director
- Jeremy Webb
- Executive Producer
- Peter Moffat
- Producer
- Richard Stokes
- Writer
- Peter Moffat
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