I think the jury get it wrong

Barrister on TV's hit Murder Trial drama fears verdict is botched

- NICOLA METHVEN

A BARRISTER who appears in the new series of The Jury: Murder Trial believes the show's 12 volunteers reach the wrong verdict.

On TV for four nights from Tuesday, the second series uses actors to reenact another real-life court case, watched by 12 ordinary people who must then reach a verdict as a jury.

The only major difference from the first series of Channel 4's Bafta-winning programme, shown last year, is that this time there is one jury instead of two - audience feedback said that 24 characters was too many.

But barrister Alex McBride, who appears as a legal expert, thinks the jurors reach the wrong verdict in the case of a young mum who fatally stabbed her boyfriend of six months. On trial for murder, she claims she acted in self-defence.

Though the verdict reached remains a secret for now, Alex hints that he thinks the jurors' judgment is clouded by their own life experiences before they enter the jury room.