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The prospect of a new legal drama coming to our screens was hardly exciting news. You would be forgiven for thinking that a speck of dust would struggle to fit into the miniscule gap in the genre’s market. But, as Rupert Penry-Jones’ missus would say on an M&S advert, Silk is not just a legal drama.
The series is set in the world of barristers, with Maxine Peake playing the lead role of defence barrister Martha Costello. Despite much publicity to suggest otherwise, she is the sole lead, with Penry-Jones’ character of Clive being a prominent supporting character. The opening episode showed Martha defending two clients, and wanting to apply for the more prestigious position of QC, which is known as ‘taking the silk’.
The first ten minutes of the episode were very interesting. Virtually none of the characters’ backgrounds were provided, legal jargon was flying around quicker than you could say forensic evidence, and we knew very little about the cases that Martha was working on. These were a very bold opening ten minutes, and they could have caused some audience members to grumble. However, it soon became evident that this was a masterstroke of writing that ensured you were hooked for the rest of the episode.
Writer Peter Moffatt thrust us into events, skilfully matching Martha’s own situation of having to defend two clients when she only read their case briefs the night before. It created a sense of urgency, with the camera hardly ever stopping as it followed Martha while she charged around the Crown Court. This kinetic introduction set up a superb pace that never relented, not wasting time with the standard format of introductions to drama series. Indeed, where most hour-long dramas feel like they have 40 minutes of worthwhile content and 20 minutes of flab, Silk felt like a more relaxed 90 minutes squeezed into a tense 60.
Furthermore, Moffatt expertly defied many of the all-too-well known staples of the genre. For a start, Martha is a defence lawyer. As she is the main character, we support her yet, by doing this, we are also supporting criminals being allowed to walk free. This therefore begs the question: who should we be rooting for? This is a fascinating question that is rarely given the opportunity to be asked, and Moffatt thankfully made no attempts to answer it, ensuring that the audience was anything but passive.
While good construction alone is not quite enough to make a programme compulsive, when it is combined with a performance as strong as the one delivered by Maxine Peake’s, it does. Strange accent aside, her performance was simply superb, truly embodying the role. She also managed to portray the multiple dimensions of the character perfectly, being stern and assertive in the courtroom scenes, and much softer (and more human) in her scenes with her pupil Nick (Tom Hughes). The presence of Nick also provided a welcome excuse to explain some of the more unfamiliar aspects of a barrister’s world to the audience.
In summary, there is very little that can be faulted about Silk. It’s complex, tight, superbly written, brilliantly performed and, much like M&S products, you’re just left wanting more.
The next episode of Silk airs next Tuesday at 9pm on BBC1.
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