THE INNOCENCE PROJECT
BBC1

Thursdays, 8pm

‘The Innocence Project’ is a new BBC drama series centred around a group of eager law students and their dashing law lecturer, Professor Jon Ford, played by Lloyd Owen. Set in the fictional University of East Manchester, our heroes delve into old miscarriages of justice to find new evidence that can be put to the Criminal Cases Review Commission for an appeal.


The idea is that there are cracks in the system, leading to innocent people ending up in prison, and in the absence of proper legal aid funding – no doubt lawyers would agree with that part – it is down to a handpicked group of resourceful students to save the day. As Professor Ford says to them: ‘The system isn’t working. So what are you going to do about it?’



The first episode saw the team use a combination of brains, charm and subterfuge to secure an appeal for a man falsely accused of murdering a young woman based on a fabricated cellmate confession. To prove that they are not all goody-two-shoes, a sub-plot sees one of the team nicked for selling dodgy DVDs.



Sadly, the jaded solicitor on duty is not much cop – ‘What was he like?’ ‘Like a duty solicitor, too much weight and too little hair’ – and takes the easy route, advising the budding lawyer to plead guilty, and thus get a criminal record. Happily, our hunky lecturer appears at the magistrates’ court at the last minute to point out that the Crown Prosecution Service has issued the wrong charge, getting him off with a caution.



Judging from the first episode, this looks to be a highly entertaining series and will be particularly enjoyable for anyone interested in the criminal justice system. The characters are lively, their interaction intriguing – with the inevitable will-they, won’t-they love interest – and there are some surprising and comical moments, such as when one of the students confesses that he is not entirely sure whether he has lost his virginity or whether he was just ‘rubbing against her leg’.



There are also plenty of sub-plots that will no doubt develop as the series continues.