Judge Judy rules – her courtroom, her play pen and decisions are final

Each episode starts with the menacing voiceover: "You are about to enter the courtroom of Judge Judith Sheindlin. The cases are real. The people are real. The rulings are final.

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Judge Judy is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin.

The show features Sheindlin as she adjudicates real-life small-claims disputes in a simulated courtroom set.

It broadcast from 1996 to 2021 and is shown all day, every day, from 9am to 5am switching between Freeview channels True Crime, 67, and True Crime Extra, 68.

Judge Judy has become 'wallpaper' - except when a case I have not heard before stops me in my tracks and I watch it through, anxious to know the outcome.

However many times I have seen an episode, I delight in Sheindlin's no-nonsense, common sense judgments which often leave the smug plaintiffs gasping in shock as the defendant is granted thousands of dollars on a counterclaim.

Plaintiffs strut in like a peacock, flouting its feathers, and 15 minutes later skulk out like a drowned rat after being put through the wringer of Sheindlin's probing questions, ego-bursting wit and withering putdowns.