Channel 4 Sets The Jury: Murder Trial Premiere

ScreenDog’s The Jury: Murder Trial is slated to air on Channel 4 on February 26.

The four-part series re-creates an entire murder trial verbatim from original transcripts. Real jurors have been randomly split into two juries to hear the same case and make verdicts, which may or may not align.

Featuring commentary from Nazir Afzal, the title will air across four nights.

Ed Kellie, creative director at ScreenDog, said: “We came up with this idea thinking about where our personal biases have the most impact on the people around us. Jurors are asked to draw on their life experience, but to leave their bias behind—is that possible? Do 12 people neutralize each other fairly, or do dominant individuals and cliques form? We wanted a glimpse of how these monumental, life-changing decisions play out in jury rooms every day up and down the country.”

Alf Lawrie, head of factual entertainment for Channel 4, added: “This fascinating and ground-breaking program asks profound questions about the justice system. Lifting the lid on what most people know little about, this revealing show could be described as putting the jury system itself on trial.”