By the late 19C, Britain's Bloody Code of zero tolerance - in which thousands of men, women and children were hung for trivial crimes - had ended but was still within living memory. Sir Edward Marshall Hall (note no hyphen), nicknamed "The Great Defender", rose to become the greatest criminal barrister (trial lawyer) that England has yet seen. This series attempts to unpack the grief, genius and guilt that drove him. Jonathon Hyde is outstanding as the passionate Marshall Hall as he fights seemingly non-winnable cases with stunning and audacious oratory. Hall's closing address in the Marie Hermann case episode was so moving it brought me to tears. What another reviewer has called "pretentious" is simply the style of BBC period melodramas. This series is a gem and deserves to be far more widely known. Required watching for all criminal lawyers. Please get it on Netflix streaming.
