Trial SBS On Demand’s gripping Courtroom Drama collection
From your armchair, you can be the judge of SBS On Demand’s captivating collection of legal films, biopics, dramas and docos, from uplifting stories of lawyers fighting to uphold justice and equality before the law to a gripping re-enactment of a real case.
The Jury: Death on the Staircase
The Jury: Death on the Staircase reenacts a real-life manslaughter trial with actors presenting the court transcripts word-for-word before a new jury of 12 ordinary Australians. The Jury: Death on the Staircase introduces us to Carlo* and Shaun*, a couple living in inner west Sydney – Carlos is found dead at the bottom of a staircase and Shaun proclaims his innocence. (*Names and locations in the series have been changed to protect the identities of those involved in the original trial).
The actors are so utterly convincing that you forget you are watching a mock trial. Part documentary, part reality TV show and part social experiment, The Jury: Death on the Staircase provides an unparalleled insight into Australia’s trial by jury system.
Five-part series The Jury: Death on the Staircase premiered on November 6, with new episodes airing Wednesdays at 8.30pm on SBS and episodes available to stream at SBS On Demand after they air.
The Jury: Death on the Staircase
Safe Home
Safe Home introduces us to Phoebe Rook (Aisha Dee) who swaps her comfortable life in corporate law for a job in a family violence community legal centre, where she meets lawyer Jenny Lee. Filmed in Melbourne, Safe Home shows the challenges Lee (Logie-nominee Mabel Li) faces when assisting migrant women with navigating the Australian family court system.
There appears to be endless other legal dramas involving cutthroat corporate suits, which makes Safe Home especially refreshing because it is one of the few TV shows that realistically depicts the vital work of community legal centres in providing vulnerable people with free legal advice. As a lawyer myself in the community legal centre sector, I recommend this SBS Original four-part miniseries as mandatory viewing for any lawyers wanting to work in the social justice sector.
Four-part series Safe Home is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
Black and White
Black and White is based on the true story of a young Aboriginal man, Max Stuart (played by David Ngoombujarra), who is sentenced to death after a jury finds him guilty of the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl in Ceduna, a remote area on the South Australian border. David O’Sullivan (Robert Carlyle), an energetic young lawyer assigned to defend Stuart, realises that the police have extricated a false confession from him. The film follows O’Sullivan and fellow lawyer Helen Devaney (Kerry Fox) as they battle to prevent Stuart’s execution. Black and White gives a stark glimpse into the racial prejudices that First Nations people faced when navigating the court system in 1950s Australia.
Black and White is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
Dr. Gama
Dr. Gama is based on the real life of Luiz Gama, the first black lawyer in Brazil, who leveraged the legal system and the courts to secure the freedom of more than 500 slaves in Brazil. Gama was born free but sold as a slave at the age of 10 to pay off his father’s debts. Teaching himself how to read and write, Gama became a self-taught lawyer, and also a journalist and poet, who used the law to liberate himself and other slaves. Watch Dr. Gama to learn about Gama’s lifelong fight to abolish slavery in Brazil.
Dr. Gama is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
Conviction
Set in Paris, Conviction introduces us to 32-year-old Roxane Bauer (Alice Isaaz), a hotshot associate at a posh law firm owned by her husband’s moneyed family. Bauer appears to have it all – a successful, high-powered corporate law career and a supportive husband who is also a partner in the family firm. However, after her husband is accused of rape, Bauer is pushed out of her cushy law job at the big end of town and reluctantly returns to the rough area where she grew up. Back in her hometown, she soon sees there is plenty of demand for criminal defence lawyers and realises her true calling as a lawyer defending the voices of the accused. Conviction captures the complexities of being a woman in the law and being caught between the two worlds of the haves and have nots.
Catch all eight episodes of Conviction on SBS On Demand.
The Attorney
The Attorney takes us to 1980s Busan, South Korea where the oppressive military government regime is knuckling down on communist sympathisers. Loosely based on the real life “Burim case” where more than 20 students, teachers and workers in a Busan book club were wrongfully accused of being North Korean sympathisers, the Attorney was a big box office hit during its initial release in 2014. Song Woo-seok (played by Song Kang-ho) is a sole practitioner earning big bucks as a tax lawyer but when his friend’s son is tortured and arrested on fabricated charges of being a North Korean sympathiser, Song gathers an all-star legal team to defend the group of young activists The Attorney tracks Song’s trajectory from money-obsessed tax lawyer to human rights defender.
The Attorney is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
Pink
Pink is an Indian Hindi-language courtroom thriller that follows Minal Arora’s struggle to seek justice after being arrested and charged with attempted murder. Her accuser is a man who sexually assaulted her on a night out, with Minal (Taapsee Pannu) defending herself by striking him with a bottle. Her neighbour Deepak Seghal (Amitabh Bachchan), a retired and reputable lawyer, dusts off his court robes to clear her name and puts to the court that “no means no”. Pink deals deftly with the issue of consent in a misogynistic and patriarchal society.
Pink is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
Discover more films, series and documentaries in the at SBS On Demand.
