Rough Justice

Drama / Characters: 5 males, 3 females

Scenery: Interior

James Highwood, the host of a popular television program called 'British Justice', is on the stand at the Old Bailey, accused of murdering his severely handicapped child. He refuses his solicitor's plea to obtain legal representation and conducts his own defense, admitting responsibility but pleading manslaughter. His claim that the jury alone is responsible for the verdict brings him into conflict with the judge, while his battle to have his intentions understood brings him into conflict with the prosecutor, a well known Catholic pro-lifer. There is also the question of whether Highwood actually killed his child after all. This adroitly written courtroom drama starred Diana Quick and Martin Shaw in London's West End.

"Absorbing. . . . His writing is sharp, and the courtroom interchanges positively crackle." Sunday Express