The mother of all crimes

THE year is 2035. Not for real - not unless your paper boy is somewhat behind with his round - but in a new one-off drama tonight on 5. THE TRIAL (9pm) finds a teenage girl’s parents (played by Claire Skinner and Ben Miles) facing life behind bars, not for any heinous crime they appear to have committed themselves (although I do get the impression they'd be pretty insufferable company if you met them) but for the actions of their wayward child.

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Described by the show’s publicists as “chillingly plausible” (and I’m inclined to agree with them: they’ll be so pleased), the scenario that we're asked to imagine here is one in which, under a radical new law - the Milligan Act of 2030 - the parents of a minor who has been arrested for a serious offence can be charged as accessories.