Judge John Deed: British TV Lawyers in the 21st Century

Although the bewigged lawyer is familiar beyond the shores of the United Kingdom in the form of Horace Rumpole and James Kavanagh QC, these are only two of the many televised incarnations that the British lawyer has enjoyed since 1958. As in the U.S. and to a lesser extent Europe, TV lawyer series have long been a staple of British television. The would-be successors to the late Leo McKern and John Thaw have not been slow in coming forward and in the 21st century there have been no less than seven lawyer shows featuring British law and lawyers. These have included a whole range of styles. As with the previous 30 shows and series between 1958 and 2000, the current crop of fictional lawyers cover the fighter for justice working alone or with some technical assistance as Perry Mason did in the 1950s and 1960s and Matlock did in the 1980s -The Brief.