Well-acted, and with an exemplary cast, seldom has so much talent been wasted on such a dismal and disappointing drama.
The story starts strongly but with each successive episode seems to deliver less, until the story limps home to an unsatisfying (and predictable) ending. This is a preachy and didactive piece, and fashions its narrative in an unconvincing way to suit the message it is so desperate to hammer home. Grafted onto the central themes are also some 'pro-Life' sermonising, a bit of gratuitous flag-waving and Yank-bashing, and some dodgy religious sentiments.
I was also not sure that the author understood the niceties of our legal system. At a pivotal point in the jury's deliberations, one of the (supposedly) more intelligent jurors announced that surely the point of sending the case for retrial was so that the defendant could be found innocent, and that this was obviously what the authorities wanted. Now, maybe I'm mistaken, but surely the opposite is true. Appeal court judges have the power to quash a conviction; but if a case is sent for retrial this means the Crown Prosecution Service think the defendant still has a serious case to answer.
I can't write any more without disclosing the plot, but anyone who loves intelligent and well-crafted drama should give this a miss. It is certainly not a patch on two of ITV's previous five-nighters, both incidentally written by Anthony Horowitz, 'Collision', and 'Injustice'. If you've seen neither, buy them instead!