Barristers' turn for the comedy routine

ChambersBBC1Thursdays 10pm (from 15 June)

Jeremy Fleming

Solicitors who instruct barristers on a regular basis will recognise much truth in the comic portrayal of a medium-quality set in Chambers, the new comedy series being screened on BBC1 this month.

The plot involves head of chambers John Fuller-Carp, played by satirist John Bird; Hilary Tripping, a junior barrister; Ruth Quirke, another junior, played by former Coronation Street barmaid Sarah Lancashire; and the chambers clerk.Much of the humour settles around the relationship between Fuller-Carp and the clerk, who plays the role of the servant who wields the power.

The size of the cast, and the quality of the acting, gives it the flavour of Yes Minister or Fawlty Towers.The gags are funny, though they are a little thin on the ground, and the series will need to pick up momentum from the first episode to get anywhere close to the reputation of either of those two classics.

Perhaps it is because the show is adapted from a successful radio production that there seems too little emphasis on physical comedy - most of the gags are in the dialogue.The opening programme centres on Ruth's desperation to meet the right man.

She chooses a blind date from a series of men on video supplied by her dating agency.

Settling for the only one on the list who doesn't seem to be involved in the public relations business, she then has a crisis of confidence about being a female barrister, terrified that this will deter her potential mate.She meets her man in a restaurant and, after almost giving the game away, she tells him that she is a nurse.Meanwhile, Carp-Fuller is involved in a construction case and finds himself up against a rival barrister.

The pair compete in court to slip words into their submissions for wagers.

Carp-Fuller's rival wins by reciting the cast of Eastenders; he is then required to slip 'cunnilingus' into his submissions.The acting is good and the characters have the right combination of stereotype and idiosyncrasy to carry the comedy.

It certainly does not represent the Bar as a glamorous and fascinating profession: one realistic feature of the word-game played by the barristers - which the scriptwriter insists is based on an actual case - is that it arises from the barristers' desire to liven up what otherwise would be tedious proceedings.The series deserves attention; it could materialise into a popular comedy.

Keeping the glamour out of the Bar

Clive Coleman, the writer of Chambers, is well placed to create a comedy series about his fellow barristers - he still practises on a sporadic basis, writes Jeremy Fleming.

One of the refreshing things about Chambers is the lack of glamour in its portrayal of the Bar - the tendency is to overdo the cloistered English thing.

Mr Coleman, a lecturer at the Inns of Court School of Law, explains why he does not suffer such illusions: 'I remember watching an episode of LA Law in which Arnie Becker, the divorce lawyer, wakes in a satin-sheeted bed next to a beautiful blonde, strolls into his huge kitchen, and pours himself a long fresh orange juice.

The next morning I woke up at five o'clock to go to Aberystwyth, to represent someone charged for his behaviour in a public lavatory.'Mr Coleman believes that class is the engine that drives great British comedy, and he thinks that Chambers offers a rich vein to tap in this respect.

On the one hand, he explains, this is evident in the master-servant relationship between the head of chambers and the clerk; but it is also true of the differences in motivation and work ethic between Ruth - a junior from the north - and Fuller-Carp: 'He's the minor public school type, who would desperately like to make the top echelons of the judiciary, and to be a bencher, but who never will: he's second-rate, lazy - always takes the short-cut.' The issue is not one of working class/middle class attitudes so much as the mores associated with different cultural traditions, he says.Does he feel that he is writing about a profession that is dying out? 'There's no doubt that the Bar is going through a very challenging period.

I hope that the series will draw public attention to the particular issues that are affecting it, I certainly have tried to include them within some of the later plot lines.

The Carp-Fuller character has to attempt to reinvent his role and identity.'But, serious issues to one side, Mr Coleman acknowledges that the law is a well-beaten whipping boy of British comedy.

He explains; 'Everyone from Shakespeare to Jonathan Swift has had a go at lawyers.

There are so many stereotypical assumptions that work well with comedy - such as the pomposity and avarice.'Mr Coleman says the inspiration for the series comes direct from his experience.

He was called to the Bar in Lincoln's Inn in 1986, after taking an English degree at York University.

He says he would find himself thinking up lateral comic sketches when he was in court.He has enjoyed great success moving his series laterally from Radio Four to BBC1; the audience will now dictate his future in television.