Criminal Justice is an English television thriller series written by Peter Moffatt, produced by the BBC and starring Ben Whishaw as Ben Coulter, a young man who is accused of murder after a drunken and drug-filled night out, though is unable to remember committing the crime.
The series premiered in the UK on BBC One on 30 June, 2008.
Criminal Justice premiered in South Africa on DStv's BBC Entertainment channel on Monday 8 June 2009, at 20h30. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 2 premiered on BBC Entertainment on Monday 26 July 2010, at 20h30. New episodes air nightly, until Friday 30 July. There are five hour-long episodes in the second season.
Season 2 Repeats
Daily: 01h05
Season 1
One mad night and Ben Coulter's (Ben Whishaw) life is changed forever. As he gets ready to go out on the town, the 21-year-old looks in the mirror. It will be the last time he's able to recognise the person who looks back.
Little does Ben know that a wild encounter with sexy, young Melanie Lloyd will tear his life apart. They go for a ride in his father's black cab and a crazy evening ensues.
Within 24 hours he will be charged with murder and – what's worse – he can't remember what happened the night before.
What follows is a rollercoaster ride through the criminal justice system across the five episodes; where the truth is optional and what counts is playing the game, in order to come out on top.
No one wants to hear Ben's side of the story; a complex game of cat and mouse begins as soon as he is arrested, played out between the duty solicitor, the world-weary Stone (Con O'Neill) and the pugnacious DCI Box (Bill Paterson).
Ben's shocked parents don't know where to turn and deep down there is a terrifying doubt: could their son really be a murderer?
Ben's world becomes a labyrinth of oppressive places: police station, prison and courtroom. As Ben steps off the prison bus he has to learn to survive alongside cellmates and hardened career criminals Hooch (Pete Postlethwaite) and Freddie Graham (David Harewood).
Lost in this alien world, Ben has little sense of where things start or finish, and who is in charge.
Season 1 stars Ben Whishaw, Pete Postlethwaite, David Harewood, Bill Paterson, Con O'Neill and Lindsay Duncan.
Season 2
Juliet Miller's life is turned upside down forever after an incident that leaves her family fighting for life, love and survival.
From the outside, Joe and Juliet Miller seem to have perfect lives: designer house, Joe's dazzling career as a top barrister, Juliet's enviable job as stay-at-home-mum to 13-year-old Ella - but all is not what it seems.
A flustered Juliet prepares for her husband's return from work. He arrives with flowers and greets wife and daughter, but both adults are jumpy and frenetic.
We see unsettling clues as to what might be going on and wait anxiously for some kind of eruption. That night, a shocking incident occurs that will change each of their lives forever.
Juliet is plunged into the criminal justice system and has to fight for her sanity and the survival of her family.
Season 2 stars Maxine Peake, Matthew Macfadyen, Alice Sykes, Sophie Okonedo, Zoe Telford, Denis Lawson, Steven MacKintosh, Kate Hardie, Nadine Marshall and Eddie Marsan.
Seasons
The series airs exclusively on BBC Entertainment as part of its annual "Crime & Justice" season. Episodes broadcast nightly, at 20h30. There are five episodes per season.
Season 1
Premiere: 8 June 2009 | Finale: 12 June 2009
Season 2
Premiere: 26 July 2010 | Finale: 30 July 2010