Garrows Law

1Episode #1.1

In the London of the late eighteenth century, William Garrow, apprentice counsel to the experienced Southouse, is appalled by the savagery of the court system and the fact that the defending lawyer never gets advanced disclosure. His first case is to defend a youth falsely accused of robbery so that a professional thief taker will be paid for the conviction. He fails to save the boy but impresses the philanthropic and liberal wife of M.P. Sir Arthur Hill, Lady Sarah, who pays him to defend a young girl accused of infanticide. His demolition of the prosecution witnesses and encouraging the girl to move the court with her story results in a Not Guilty verdict and the respect of prosecutor Silvester. However, Southouse warns him that his crusading methods will bring him enemies.

2Episode #1.2

SPOILER! REVEALS ENDING.Having won praise from journalist Thomas Rawlings for his latest court success, Garrow reluctantly accepts the case of the cavalier, unsympathetic Renwick Williams, who stands accused of being 'The Monster', a serial attacker of women, who are stabbed but not killed. Rawlings' editor has invested much in the story and is whipping up a frenzy against Williams, which Garrow appreciates and he discredits him in court. Garrow also gets the chief prosecution witness, victim Ann Porter, to admit that she already knows the defendant and has falsely accused him out of spite. Garrow triumphs in court but Williams is murdered in prison by vengeful inmates. Lady Sarah realises that her husband wanted a guilty verdict for his own ends and rounds on him.

3Episode #1.3

Lady Sarah is disappointed when Garrow successfully defends odious Edgar Cole,who is cleared of raping his maid and they argue. Silvester steps in and the two lawyers fight a duel, in which Garrow is injured. It looks as if Garrow was defending Sarah's honour and her husband suspects infidelity. Although she kisses Garrow, Sarah tells him she will not cuckold her husband. Garrow gets the opportunity of revenge on Forrester, the corrupt thief-taker whose lies cost Garrow's first client his life. After Garrow proves that he was a fence to a young couple who robbed a haberdasher,he is put in the stocks where the haberdasher, whose grandson he killed, ensures that his thief-catching days are over.

4Episode #1.4

Having successfully defended a prostitute accused of killing a masochistic client, Garrow takes up the case of Joseph Hamer, charged with treason for belonging to the Corresponding Society, who advocate a wider enfranchisement and much needed electoral reform. The prosecutor is Attorney General Scott, a foolish wind-bag, and Garrow wins the case, thanks to crucial information supplied by Lady Sarah. She knows full well that her husband, member of parliament for a nominal constituency, stood to gain if Garrow lost but she is a woman of great principles, for which reason she also refuses to leave Sir Arthur, by whom she is pregnant, for Garrow.

2Episode #2.2

Garrow defends young army captain Robert Jones,who faces the death penalty after David Jasker,whose failing shoe-maker's shop is patronised by Jones,accuses him of sexually assaulting him. Jones seemingly has a girl-friend but Southouse learns that she is a keeper of a Molly-house,or male brothel and that Jones chiefly prefers sex with men. Jones confesses to Garrow that he and Jasker are actually lovers but that Jasker's wife has trumped up the charge so that they do not have to repay a loan from Jones. Garrow depends on that love for Jasker to do the right thing in court and save his lover from the gallows. Hill sets out to sue Garrow and ruin him financially.He employs slimy lawyer Farmer to provide false evidence that Sarah and Garrow were seen embracing in the hotel where she lives after Hill threw her out and bullies Sarah's maid Mary into lying that she witnessed them.

3Episode #2.3

Retired British sailors at the charitably-run Greenwich Hospital are being starved and abused and when the hospital's manager,honest Captain Baillie,reports the abuse to the Admiralty,he is charged with malicious libel,his main accuser being Hill,the Under Secretary at the Admiralty. Southouse discovers corruption among the governors of the hospital which Garrow exposes in court,exonerating Captain Baillie at Hill's expense. However,Garrow's private life seems less successful as,whilst Sarah has refused to admit that Garrow is Samuel's father,she sees them as having no future together.

4Episode #2.4

Having failed to save a twelve year old mute boy from the gallows,Garrow enters the civil court to hear Hill's accusation of adultery against him in a deeply depressed mood,despite Sarah's assurances. Silvester,previously his adversary,defends him in the spirit of fair play and does well,demolishing Hill's Admiralty cronies,the prosecution witnesses,whilst Mary,Sarah's loyal maid,refuses to perjure herself. However,it is the dogged and devoted Soutouse who saves the day by bringing in a surprise,last minute witness to expose Hill's hypocrisy.

1Episode #3.1

Lady Sarah,her credit cut off by her husband,is living with Garrow and learning to cook for him. The young lawyer's reputation attracts the custom of Ann Hadfield,whose discontented ex-soldier husband James shot at the king and is charged with treason. Hadfield claims he had no murderous intent but wanted to be a martyr to provoke rebellion,prompting Garrow to plead insanity for his client. After a visit to Bedlam to learn about lunacy Garrow submits that it may strike the sufferer intermittently,to the horror of the establishment figures who fear it will reflect on the king's own condition. However,after evidence from Anne and a shock reaction from Hadfield,Garrow wins his case whilst Sarah sets about taking legal steps to retrieve her child.

2Episode #3.2

3Episode #3.3

4Episode #3.4