Six Days of Justice (ITV 1972-1975)

A kind of counter point series to Crown Court, Six Days of Justice took us into the much busier world of the magistrates’ court which in the early seventies was dealing with some 2,450,000 cases every year.

The series focused very much on the court proceedings and tried to be as factually accurate as possible. The cast for each episode being encouraged to visit real magistrates courts to look at people’s behavior and mannerisms in the court room. Critics of the time remarked that it was too authentic and this made for a boring show but it was pretty popular with the viewing audience nonetheless and notched up four seasons. Although it never strayed from the courtroom the series did tackle some topical subjects and kept you involved in the cases that were being heard.

Writers on the series included the high calibre likes of Trevor Preston, Roger Parkes, P.J. Hammond, Robert Holles, John Bowen and Ray Jenkins. Actress Eleanor Bron contributed a script, Angelica, to the fourth season.

Rather than big names the series preferred character players in the main roles although there are lots of well known faces popping up including the likes of George Sewell, Bernard Hepton, John Abineri, Diana Quick, Sheila White, Virginia Stride (former wife of Main Chance star John Stride) and Warren Clarke.

production details
UK / ITV – Thames / 24×50 minute episodes / Broadcast Monday 10 April 1972 – Monday 19 May 1975

Story Editors: Maggie Allen (season 1), June Roberts (seasons 2-4) / Advisors: Margaret Warburton, Keith Devlin / Producers: Reginald Collin (season 1), Peter Duguid (seasons 2-4) Season two opening episode The Counsellor.

THE EPISODES
SEASON ONE 10 April – 15 May 1972
1. CROSS-FIRE (10 Apr 72)
2. SUDDENLY… YOU’RE IN IT (17 Apr 72)
3. A PRIVATE NUISANCE (24 Apr 72)
4. WHO CARES? (1 May 72)
5. WITH INTENT TO DECEIVE (8 May 72)
6. OPEN HOUSE (15 May 72)

SEASON TWO 1 May – 5 June 1973
1. THE COUNSELLOR (1 May 73)
2. A CLEAR-CUT CASE (8 May 73)
3. WE’LL SUPPORT YOU EVERMORE (15 May 73)
4. EXCUSE ME, MADAM (22 May 73)
5. A REGULAR FRIEND (29 May 73)
6. A LITTLE LOCAL KNOWLEDGE (5 Jun 73)

SEASON THREE 22 October – 26 November 1973
1. BLACK SPOT (22 Oct 73)
2. STRANGER IN PARADISE (29 Oct 73)
3. A QUESTION OF DISCIPLINE (5 Nov 73)
4. THE COMPLAINT (12 Nov 73)
5. THE CHINA LADY (19 Nov 73)
6. CASE FOR COMMITTAL (26 Nov 73)

SEASON FOUR 14 April – 19 May 1975
1. HOT WATER (14 Apr 75)
2. BELONGING (21 Apr 75)
3. ANGELICA (28 Apr 75)
4. A JUICY CASE (5 May 75)
5. THE GOOD SAMARITAN (12 May 75)
6. THE BRIEF FACTS (19 May 75)