This programme was probably made in response to Granada TV's World in Action episode "A Standard Mistake" from 1974. This exposed the error in the U.K's new Asbestos Regulations. Industry essentially forced the Govt to adopt a standard based on bent data and ignored the risk of cancer.
'I think that people are more important than plastic.' This was nearly 50 years ago. With almost everything in daily use being related to plastic - including the pc I'm typing this comment on - we haven't really learned anything, have we? Ms Routledge's performance is of retrained impeccability. Such a treat to watch.
Patricia Routledge in a more serious role, and didn't she do well! I love Crown Court. As it was shown in the afternoons I could only watch it during times of sickness from work (not that often) and when I was on leave. Just catching up now. Thanks for the upload of this amazing programme
In the movie Erin Brockovich, it makes a good point when the lawyer for the polluting company refuses to drink a glass of water from the town they have polluted!
Mr Griffiths and Professor Williams were both in the Roger Moore movie "The Man Who Haunted Himself" from 1970. The bald juror's expressions are priceless !
In other words, the judge played golf with executives from Fulchester Plastics. Biased old sod. The doctor was clear on every point. The verdict was right.
Correction: "Patricia Routledge is the defendant - again!! She plays Dr Barbara Baxter, who is the defendant in a libel case brought by Fulchester Plastics."
My pleasure, Mark. :) It's just a shame that they take so long to transfer into a format that's uploadable to UA-cam, or else I'd be pumping episodes out every day! In the meantime, I promise to do what I can. :)
What a treat to see Mrs Flynn take the stand: she was the gourmand cook Letitia Cropley in The Vicar of Dibley. Big on Marmite, Letitia was, Marmite in appalling combination with other British horrors of cuisine
Interesting comment right at the end by the judge, it's as if the jury went against the law & the expected result. A tough one, but I did think the jury would feel they were protecting the general public & themselves by siding with the good doctor. La Routledge is as expected and another great episode, not on the DVD collection. I thank you Sir Jez, now, back to work with me.
Excellent to see this - many thanks Jez! Another high quality story but that is the "accepted standard" for Crown Court. One odd point is the actor who played Professor Williams who appears near the end doesn't feature on the end credits. He seems to be reading his notes throughout at the witness box but one wonders if he was actually reading his lines!
From my experience as a director in community theatre, he either couldn't remember his lines and so was reading them from his 'notes', or he was a late substitution for another actor and didn't have time to learn them. I've had to deal with both situations.
@@coopdivi I think it's more likely that the entire scene was added very late in the production, maybe even as a remount, when the producers had a sudden realization that an expert witness would be an integral part of such a case. The credits had doubtless already been compiled. Note the odd edit at the start of the scene.
Some bravura performances in this episode, especially Patricia Routledge, Ben Kingsley and Liz Smith. Outstanding drama, and not a single silly musical tune or idiotic voiceover in the background in sight.
The young Sexy beast argued his case well (the specs must have won him the Gandi robe ), in an early blitz of intense charisma . Interesting choice of characterisation from Kingsley. At times sounds like Ronnie Barker doing one of his Disraeli , impressions. That old boy on the jury was one of the best non verbal actors in the series. A dryer episode then many of the ones I've seen recently. But I suppose the proceedings of most Civil cases are.
This was recorded the year that I graduated from high school. This fact made my viewing of this episode especially fascinating. This was topical as far back as 1976? Really?
@@kathleencampbell1138 They did use her politics and use of a study from the Soviet Union to try a discredit her. Not that this had anything to do with anything, but this was during the Cold War.
@@GeoNeilUK Communists were irrationally against science, hence their rejection of proper study of genetics out of their political preference for Lysenkoism
@@adrianwilliams6908 "Communists were irrationally against science, hence their rejection of proper study of genetics out of their political preference for Lysenkoism" [citation needed]
Such a precisely good looking lady in a quiet non-tacky way, my aunty an Honor Blackman lookalike certainly thought this, especially later so would never argue with thiis, however some of my aquarian mates are not at all and so what!!!! I'm somewhat more obvious looking as I have tacky eyes like Monroe lol. Yes she has and possibly still a refined good look!!
The Nypro Disaster had occurred in 1974 - a dreadful and deadly explosion caused by lax safety standards and cynical cost cutting. Industry leaders of the time were scrambling to bury numerous endemic hazards which were killing and sickening the workers of the World...because MASS MEDIA and broad EDUCATION had made people increasingly aware. (In the days of Black Lung in the mines and Brown Lung in the cotton mills, the average worker had no time to read papers or library books...if they could even read at all.) Standards paid for with cascades of blood, sweat and tears.
Quibble: if it's true, it's not defamatory. "damaging the reputation of a person or group by saying or writing bad things about them that are not true" (Cambridge online).
Unusual set up; unique perhaps? No dock and the case opens with the case for the defence; meanwhile the witnesses are sitting in the court hearing all the evidence. Surely not accurate procedure?
@@autodidact2499 I had too wondered as in other cases they've had the witnesses sitting out in a waiting area but I guess those must have been criminal cases.
SPOILER ALERT! Do not read this reply if you haven't seen the verdict!! Hi, Mary. I understand where you coming from: she did win, but I think it was an acting choice of Patricia Routledge's that as the character was a doctor/scientist, she would play it as a dry, unemotional academic. If it was me, I'd be leaping around, whooping for joy like a mad thing!
The Judge was quite derogatory, I was not quite sure if he was critical of Patricia's character or the other side. Did she win damages as well? Quite a tricky ending to understand I feel. BUT please do keep them coming. My husband and I are really enjoying them. Thank you
It almost comes across as though they were not expecting that to be the verdict and they had to kind of adlib it. I think technically if anybody would have the right to be sued over such a thing it would be the newspaper that published the letter. I agree with the verdict given.
Gandhi dispenses with his nappy and walking shaft in exchange for a silly wig and gown … same old faces rotated yet again. Isn’t that Nobby Dixon on the jury? If your Lordship pleases … 👳♂️
Almost all of them were broadcast one case per week, over three consecutive weekdays in the slot immediately after lunchtime. Not a dumb question at all Derek. The only thing we in the UK know about Canadian tv is that two beavers are apparently better than one - and we only learned that from US tv
This used to be boring when I was a child. But now as an adult and a lawyer, it's a masterpiece.
Just as you'd expect, Patricia Routledge is word perfect and wholly credible playing this part. Quality television.
What a cast..... I was often threatened with 'I will make you watch Crown Court" as a child. Its bloody Fantactic.
😆
I assume that the plant manager won't be receiving an invitation to one of Hyacinth's candlelit suppers any time soon!.
😂
Im cracking up!
This programme was probably made in response to Granada TV's World in Action episode "A Standard Mistake" from 1974. This exposed the error in the U.K's new Asbestos Regulations. Industry essentially forced the Govt to adopt a standard based on bent data and ignored the risk of cancer.
Liz Smith, Pat Routeledge, Ben Kingsley its a DREAM acting cast.
What a treat to listen to Patricia Routledge's delivery. Perfect diction.
she can't pronounce "bucket" properly
'I think that people are more important than plastic.' This was nearly 50 years ago. With almost everything in daily use being related to plastic - including the pc I'm typing this comment on - we haven't really learned anything, have we? Ms Routledge's performance is of retrained impeccability. Such a treat to watch.
Patricia Routledge is a wonderful and intelligent actress. I am really enjoying these episodes of Crown Court. Thank ye.
Hyacinth Bucket no less lol
agreed she is one of the finest! her role as Hbucket overshadows quite a bit her other achievements due to the popularity of the series
Nice to see Sir Ben Kingsley in this Crown Court episode.
Patricia Routledge in a more serious role, and didn't she do well! I love Crown Court. As it was shown in the afternoons I could only watch it during times of sickness from work (not that often) and when I was on leave. Just catching up now. Thanks for the upload of this amazing programme
She's played many serious roles,
It was the same for me, I could only ever watch these it I was home from work, and it's why I am catching up with them now
I’m gobsmacked! I didn’t realize Dr. Baxter is played by Mrs. Bouquet! That just shows what a talent Hetty Wainthrop is!
@@kathleencampbell1138 indeed - it's a great shame that the role she'll likely end up being remembered for was in a ridiculous, lame sitcom.
Patricia Routledge is a wonderful actress.😊👌
Patricia Routledge and Ben Kingsley. Can you get any better.
Who could mistake the voice of Hyacinth Bucket even from an other room.
Man, Fulchester must be the most downtrodden, dangerous, immoral, and in general a most letigious place on earth.
It always amazes me how many Fulchester barristers went on to become actors in later life, too.
numberstation 😂😂😂
I know!!! It's like St Mary Mead, and Cabot Cove.
@@numberstation Thank goodness.
Goodness, Sir Ben Kingsley and Dame Patricia Routledge!
Really enjoying all these episodes...thank you!
Clive Fuller-Hale p
I agree, these programmes are simply superb. I am enjoying them immensely
by a strange co-incidence, I too brought a case against a firm making plastics and, like in this story, I won.
In the movie Erin Brockovich, it makes a good point when the lawyer for the polluting company refuses to drink a glass of water from the town they have polluted!
All of these have been most enjoyable. Thanks.
Great stuff. Many thanks again Jez.
Mr Griffiths and Professor Williams were both in the Roger Moore movie "The Man Who Haunted Himself" from 1970. The bald juror's expressions are priceless !
The safe levels of vinyl chloride at the time was 500ppm but the factory stuck to 10ppm. The current recommended safety levels are 1ppm!
In other words, the judge played golf with executives from Fulchester Plastics. Biased old sod. The doctor was clear on every point. The verdict was right.
Masons, the lot of 'em.
Yet another one of my favourite actors in this the late,great John Carson
Correction: "Patricia Routledge is the defendant - again!! She plays Dr Barbara Baxter, who is the defendant in a libel case brought by Fulchester Plastics."
Fantastic. Thanks Jez. Do keep them coming please..👍🏼
My pleasure, Mark. :) It's just a shame that they take so long to transfer into a format that's uploadable to UA-cam, or else I'd be pumping episodes out every day! In the meantime, I promise to do what I can. :)
what a lovely surprise, thank you :)
A humdinger of an episode
That little old boy in the jury didn't know if it was Christmas Eve or Pancake Day.
That’s my Granddad-in-law … no insults - you have been warned. 👨🦱
@@LANCSKID Was he a long-standing Fulchester resident?
@Nick Sellens No, he spent a good deal of time lying down. 👨🦰
@@LANCSKID Not lying under oath I hope.
@Nick Sellens No, he sowed his wild ones long ago. I inherited a shaving mug and a pair of greasy slippers from him which was nice ...
Still love this show.
Wow! Ben Kingsley. What humble beginnings.
Mary Miller who played one of the counselors later starred as Lilith in the first 2 series of children's game show Knightmare.
I *knew* I recognised her from somewhere! Thank you!
What a treat to see Mrs Flynn take the stand: she was the gourmand cook Letitia Cropley in The Vicar of Dibley. Big on Marmite, Letitia was, Marmite in appalling combination with other British horrors of cuisine
Superb acting. Thanks for sharing.
The greatest TV show we never saw in the USA.
Jez, you're a diamond.
No one said anything abt defence counsel - Ben Kingsley
Interesting comment right at the end by the judge, it's as if the jury went against the law & the expected result. A tough one, but I did think the jury would feel they were protecting the general public & themselves by siding with the good doctor. La Routledge is as expected and another great episode, not on the DVD collection. I thank you Sir Jez, now, back to work with me.
Forget work and carry on watching, dear @thebadtemperedbrit! 😊
Excellent to see this - many thanks Jez! Another high quality story but that is the "accepted standard" for Crown Court. One odd point is the actor who played Professor Williams who appears near the end doesn't feature on the end credits. He seems to be reading his notes throughout at the witness box but one wonders if he was actually reading his lines!
Played by Aubrey Richards although he is not credited. He played the professor who was kidnapped in the Ipcress File.
From my experience as a director in community theatre, he either couldn't remember his lines and so was reading them from his 'notes', or he was a late substitution for another actor and didn't have time to learn them. I've had to deal with both situations.
@@coopdivi I think it's more likely that the entire scene was added very late in the production, maybe even as a remount, when the producers had a sudden realization that an expert witness would be an integral part of such a case. The credits had doubtless already been compiled. Note the odd edit at the start of the scene.
Great series.
Wow, that's Mrs Cropley from Vicar of Dibley. I recognized the voice before I saw her. Liz Smith was a teasure.
Patricia Routledge. for once shes not acting crazy
She doesn't! How narrow!
Many great actors on this episode 👏 👏👏👏👏
Including my Granddad-in-law 🥸
Some bravura performances in this episode, especially Patricia Routledge, Ben Kingsley and Liz Smith. Outstanding drama, and not a single silly musical tune or idiotic voiceover in the background in sight.
The young Sexy beast argued his case well (the specs must have won him the Gandi robe ), in an early blitz of intense charisma . Interesting choice of characterisation from Kingsley. At times sounds like Ronnie Barker doing one of his Disraeli , impressions. That old boy on the jury was one of the best non verbal actors in the series. A dryer episode then many of the ones I've seen recently. But I suppose the proceedings of most Civil cases are.
Whoever the "sexy beast" is in the film of that title, I'm sure it isn't Ben Kingsley.
Jez T 43,000 viewers are in your debt. Bravo
Surprise verdict.
The judge clearly thought the jury made the wrong verdict, but I don't see how they could have decided anything else.
The old fool probably held shares in the firm.
Thank goodness we have a Jury system.
Is this the lady who cooks the awful food from
The Vicar of Dibley? 6:07
It IS! Liz Smith! 20 years prior.
Yahoo, I thought I’d seen all the episodes.
This was recorded the year that I graduated from high school. This fact made my viewing of this episode especially fascinating. This was topical as far back as 1976? Really?
Ile finish this one tommorow...keep me in touch jez regarding crown court bieng shown again.I'm on face book under kirk brookes.at the top.
Hiasynth bucket? I think it is :) I love her as an actress
Mrs Bucket!
I'd never have thought she was a Communist.
A communist 😂
@@kathleencampbell1138 They did use her politics and use of a study from the Soviet Union to try a discredit her. Not that this had anything to do with anything, but this was during the Cold War.
@@GeoNeilUK Communists were irrationally against science, hence their rejection of proper study of genetics out of their political preference for Lysenkoism
@@adrianwilliams6908 "Communists were irrationally against science, hence their rejection of proper study of genetics out of their political preference for Lysenkoism"
[citation needed]
How did Liz Smith look old for 40 years? She was in her mid 50s when she filmed this
Such a precisely good looking lady in a quiet non-tacky way, my aunty an Honor Blackman lookalike certainly thought this, especially later so would never argue with thiis, however some of my aquarian mates are not at all and so what!!!! I'm somewhat more obvious looking as I have tacky eyes like Monroe lol. Yes she has and possibly still a refined good look!!
The Nypro Disaster had occurred in 1974 - a dreadful and deadly explosion caused by lax safety standards and cynical cost cutting.
Industry leaders of the time were scrambling to bury numerous endemic hazards which were killing and sickening the workers of the World...because MASS MEDIA and broad EDUCATION had made people increasingly aware. (In the days of Black Lung in the mines and Brown Lung in the cotton mills, the average worker had no time to read papers or library books...if they could even read at all.)
Standards paid for with cascades of blood, sweat and tears.
Not guilty. Before I've ever watched it.
Mrs Bucket, where's long suffering Richard and the rest of the cast.
51:25 Hywell Bennett??
Quibble: if it's true, it's not defamatory. "damaging the reputation of a person or group by saying or writing bad things about them that are not true" (Cambridge online).
Why is the judge wearing black robe with white fur? It seems not to be for a circuit judge or high court judge, what position is he?
They did tend to dress differently for civil cases
With stockings and suspenders … 😺
Unusual set up; unique perhaps? No dock and the case opens with the case for the defence; meanwhile the witnesses are sitting in the court hearing all the evidence. Surely not accurate procedure?
It's a civil case, not a criminal one, the rules are different.
Thanks for the clarification; I wondered about the witnesses myself.
@@autodidact2499 I had too wondered as in other cases they've had the witnesses sitting out in a waiting area but I guess those must have been criminal cases.
Bit slow this one.
It’s Bouqueeeey!
20m20secs.. May 18! is this for american audiences? 18th May please!!
Do you have the episode Too Bad For Tobias?
Thank you. Did she win? The end is so strange, The Judge is not happy, how bad is that?
SPOILER ALERT! Do not read this reply if you haven't seen the verdict!! Hi, Mary. I understand where you coming from: she did win, but I think it was an acting choice of Patricia Routledge's that as the character was a doctor/scientist, she would play it as a dry, unemotional academic. If it was me, I'd be leaping around, whooping for joy like a mad thing!
The Judge was quite derogatory, I was not quite sure if he was critical of Patricia's character or the other side. Did she win damages as well? Quite a tricky ending to understand I feel. BUT please do keep them coming. My husband and I are really enjoying them. Thank you
The judge disagreed with the verdict, and he was probably right to do so. No damages, as she wasn't suing but being sued.
FP was foolish to bring the action, and they misjudged the mood of the public who would sit on the jury. Hubris, sir.
It almost comes across as though they were not expecting that to be the verdict and they had to kind of adlib it. I think technically if anybody would have the right to be sued over such a thing it would be the newspaper that published the letter. I agree with the verdict given.
Fulchester? So does this take place in the extended Viz multiverse?
HARD TO SEE IF SHE WAS THE PLAINTIFF OR DEFENDANT?
She's the defendant she's being sued.
Gandhi dispenses with his nappy and walking shaft in exchange for a silly wig and gown … same old faces rotated yet again. Isn’t that Nobby Dixon on the jury? If your Lordship pleases … 👳♂️
Always wondered why they don't quote or reference past cases , precedents or statutes during episodes of Crown Court ?
Those are only relevant if there's a legal argument. These all revolve around factual arguments.
Was this a sitcom I'm from Canada I appologize if it's a dumb question I have no idea about british tv back then n in the most part
It was a drama series. Covering legal issues as seen in a courtroom, so, usually, no actual incidents to record...
Almost all of them were broadcast one case per week, over three consecutive weekdays in the slot immediately after lunchtime.
Not a dumb question at all Derek. The only thing we in the UK know about Canadian tv is that two beavers are apparently better than one - and we only learned that from US tv
Wasn't it shown on week days around 2.00 p.m.?
Sitcom!
Oh, yes … cases of child molestation and incest are just hilarious …
Much too wordy from the witnesses
It's the type of witnesses called (I think) that would cause that added wordiness.
At least JJ is real! These are boring.
Excellent series