Accused (TV series)

Series One

The series was commissioned by Jay Hunt and Ben Stephenson, controllers of BBC One and Drama Commissioning respectively, and announced in May 2010. Each episode will revolve around a different character as they make their way to the dock in court to hear whether they've been found guilty of a crime. As they walk, the events that led up to them being accused of the crime play out and leave the viewers questioning whether each of the people are really guilty or not. McGovern said of the series:

In the time it takes to climb the steps to the court we tell the story of how the accused came to be here. We see the crime and we see the punishment. Nothing else. No police procedure, thanks very much, no coppers striding along corridors with coats flapping. Just crime and punishment – the two things that matter most in any crime drama.

McGovern was the lead writer for the series, with co-writers Alice Nutter, Danny Brocklehurst and Esther Wilson for episodes three, four and five respectively. The series was directed by David Blair (episodes 1, 2, 5 and 6) and Richard Laxton (episodes 3 and 4), and produced by RSJ Films, a company founded by Jimmy McGovern, Sita Williams and Roxy Spencer. RSJ Films is also known for making award-winning BBC series The Street. Filming for the series took place around Manchester between May and August 2010.

A number of the cast were announced along with the series: Christopher Eccleston and Pooky Quesnel feature in "Willy's Story"; and Mackenzie Crook, Robert Pugh, Benjamin Smith and Ben Batt feature in "The Soldier Story" (changed to "Frankie's Story"). It was announced in June that Juliet Stevenson and Peter Capaldi had been cast to star in "Helen's Story", and Andy Serkis would play in "Liam's Story". In July Naomie Harris was cast in "Alison's Story", and in August Marc Warren was cast in "Kenny's Story".

Series Two

On 24 February 2011, it was announced by BBC Drama Controller Ben Stephenson that Accused has been renewed for a second series of four episodes, to be broadcast sometime in 2012. Despite the relatively low viewing figures from the first series, the second was commissioned in the hopes that it would have the potential to find a broader audience.

Filming for the first two episodes of the second series began around November 2011. The new cast members confirmed to appear in these episodes include Anne-Marie Duff, Olivia Colman, Robert Sheehan, Joe Dempsie, Sheridan Smith, Paul Popplewell and comedian John Bishop. The first episode, starring Colman and Duff, would be written by McGovern and Carol Cullington, while writing credits on the second episode (starring Sheehan, Bishop and Smith) would again be shared by Daniel Brocklehurst and McGovern.

In January 2012 it was confirmed that Anna Maxwell Martin would join Sheehan and Bishop in the second episode. It was also announced that Sean Bean had joined the cast as "an English teacher who has a cross-dressing alter ego", and would star in an episode alongside Stephen Graham, which would be co-written by McGovern and Shaun Duggan and directed by Ashley Pearce

The first episode of series 2 was aired on 14 August 2012, following a large advertising campaign. The final episode of the series included a different concept to any previous in the show's history to date: although none are the lead character, four characters (Jake, Stephen, Stephen's father and the judge) from previous episodes appear and are significant towards the story. On the DVD release of series 2, 'Tracie's story' was moved from the start of the series to the end for an unknown reason, though this does not affect the chronology of the overlapping plots in the other three episodes.

Reception

Reviewing the first episode, Lucy Mangan for The Guardian said that "It was – as ever with the writer of The Street, Cracker and Hillsborough – a compelling dissection of the fragility of ordinary lives, but you did long for just a little light and shade." The Independent's Brian Viner praised the actors, including Eccleston, and the story for being about a plumber living "in an ordinary house in an unremarkable Northern town" and not about "a detective, or a doctor, barrister, architect or spy". In The Herald, Damien Love also praised Eccleston's "brilliant" and "electrifying" performance, and said "It's a strange, spiky programme, never perfect, but supremely watchable".

The controversial second episode was reviewed by Pete Naughton for The Daily Telegraph, who said "McGovern tried and largely succeeded to do was to paint a compelling picture of the brutality that can arise when men under high levels of stress turn on one another" and that "it seemed clear early on that this was a drama about institutionalised bullying whose characters happened to be soldiers, rather than an attempt at a journalistic-style exposé of bullying within the Army". In The Guardian, John Crace found it "compelling": "McGovern remains one of the best TV writers in the business and if he does tend to get carried away with torturing his own characters, you can forgive him because of the pace and economy with which he delivers the story." Asking if it was good enough, Brian Viner for The Independent praised the acting and Crook's performance, and said: "McGovern's manifold skills shone through, too. ... However, I thought "Willy's Story" last week a finer piece of drama, character-led where this was issue-led, leaving too many questions unresolved."

Although critically successful the show was not a ratings success. The show opened with 5.39 million viewers but ended with 3.19 million viewers.