The Verdict

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The Verdict was a controversial 2007 BBC television programme in which twelve celebrities formed the jury in the trial of a fictional rape case. The programme was filmed with real legal and medical professionals, but with actors playing the victim, defendants, and witnesses. The jury considered their verdict in front of cameras.

The case featured the fictitious trial of a famous international footballer, Damien Scott (played by Javone Prince), and his friend, James Greer (Mark Wood), charged with the rape of a young woman named Anna Crane (Alice O'Connell). The twelve jurors sat in judgement on a four-day unscripted trial in a real courtroom, presided over by a real judge - the recently retired Common Serjeant of London, His Honour Neil Denison QC - with real barristers prosecuting and defending. The jury retired to begin their deliberations, with TV cameras to observe the jury as it reached its verdict.

The jury eventually reached either unanimous or majority verdicts of not guilty on all counts. Several members of the jury stated that they believed the rapes had taken place, but that insufficient evidence prevented a conviction.

The show has been criticised by a number of organisations, including the End Violence Against Women campaign group, who condemned the BBC2 programme. End Violence Against Women is a coalition whose members include Amnesty International UK, Refuge and Women's Aid. Professor Liz Kelly, the campaign chairwoman, said: "The Verdict is guilty of trivialising rape. This is reality television that misses much of the reality of rape - for example, the fact that most women are raped by someone they know. With rape rarely dealt with at any length by broadcasters, The Verdict is a missed opportunity to show the facts on rape. The bleak truth about rape is that little support or justice exists for women in this country" ^[1].

Others have criticised the decision of the programme producers for including Jeffrey Archer in the jury, as he would not currently be able to sit in a jury in real life due to his criminal conviction for perjury. The programme is also viewed as having selected women jurors who were dominated by the male jurors, and many felt they were simply going along with these men's views. Defenders of the programme claim that - far from trivialising rape - the programme brought the difficult and complex issues surrounding rape trials into the public consciousness, and highlighted the reasons why the conviction rate for rape cases in the UK remains so low ^[2].