A mere selection like that isn’t enough for Acorn Media, though. No. There’s still more to come. And now they delve into the law with Garrow’s Law: Series 3, which was first seen on BBC, which raises the question of why BBC Home Video didn’t release it themselves. But where would they put it when Doctor Who is obviously so profitable for them that it seems like their schedule has no room for anything else? It has found a more welcoming home at Acorn Media, which I don’t think will ever stop serving as a constant adventure of great British and American shows on DVD. The marketplace would look very dull if they did.
Just like Doc Martin: Series 5, I come to Garrow’s Law with it already in progress. At the beginning of the first episode of Doc Martin, I could tell what had gone on the previous season, perhaps because a small town offers some goings-on, but not as complex, not as dramatic as the Old Bailey court in the 18th century. Therefore, learning that righteous lawyer William Garrow (Andrew Buchan) has been shunned by the other lawyers at the Old Bailey for some act in the previous season, and that he now lives with Lady Sarah Hill (Lyndsey Marshal), former wife of the foppish Sir Arthur Hill (Rupert Graves) makes me think that I’ve missed something important, that there’s some section of the thread missing for me. That’s the sign that a drama knows exactly what it’s doing, knows what it has crafted, is proud of what it presents, and continues to be compelling.
Garrow’s Law meets all that, right in the first of four episodes, involving an apparently unstable man who tried to assassinate King George III at the Drury Lane Theatre. A vigilant stagehand pushed the man’s gun up so it would fire into the roof of the king’s box instead of at him. Now James Hadfield waits for trial in jail, and Garrow tries to understand what would motivate him to such an act. Garrow has wise help and counsel from John Southouse (Alun Armstrong), who apparently once saw Garrow as an impetuous, callow young lawyer, and has helped Garrow become the lawyer he knows he can be. Southouse digs into the background of the cases, ferreting out the necessary people for testimony in court, and advising Garrow on what his course of action should be in the hope of winning his case. For Garrow always rests on the side of the defense, and the forces opposite him are puppets of Lord Melville (Stephen Boxer), his enemy, political and otherwise. It’s because of Melville that Sarah lost custody of her son to her ex-husband and tries to get him back with no success.
Just in this first episode, the series seems to continue its love of words, the cadence of different words, and scripts are written accordingly. Syllables ring loudly, with great pleasure to be gleaned from listening to them, listening to how lawyers use words, even when they’re not in court. That’s why I always have the subtitles on, to deeply drink in the words and hear their usage at the same time.
The fun of this first episode is in seeing that Garrow looks like a combination of Alan Ruck and Edward Norton, and that Mark Letheren, who plays James Hadfield, the accused assassin, sounds like a British John Malkovich, his words spoken so closely together like Malkovich, with quick emphasis on each word.
Garrow’s Law is not only about the proceedings in the court, but a debate on social issues back then. The first episode covers what’s defined as mental illness, and then the third episode, about the vicious Governor General of Trinidad condoning torture in his colony, especially of a woman accused of stealing some money, touches on human rights and racism with equal measure. The fourth episode deals with a cover-up during an election and features a shocking twist where another enemy of Garrow’s unexpectedly becomes an ally. This, a shattering death in Garrow’s inner circle in the third episode, and a well-deserved arrest made in the final episode makes one wonder where the series will go from here, where Garrow stands, and how he will cope with that death.
As if all this wasn’t enough, Garrow’s Law is also rich in production design, yet another series that made me want to pull out my discs for the 2005 miniseries Bleak House, if a yen for watching the entire run of Gilmore Girls again had not gotten in the way. The Old Bailey looks exactly like it must have been in the 18th century and documents on tables look appropriately aged. Plus, candles burn low as the cases are argued. It’s a captivating transport into a different century.
I must carry over the same argument from my review of George Gently: Series 4 that in order to make better featurettes for its DVDs, Hollywood needs to learn from the featurettes that Acorn Media has on these DVDs. More specifically, they need to confer with writer/director Mark Pallis, editor Cory Augustyn, camerawoman Jane McAllister, and narrator Daniel Millar, who all make up “Garrow’s Law: From Dawn to Dusk,” 19 minutes of a day’s shooting on the series, the final day of shooting as it happens, at BBC’s Dumbarton Studios outside Glasgow in Scotland. Every single detail you could want to know is covered, such as how the actors get ready in the morning, how the second assistant director must bring them to the stage, the breaks in between, lunchtime, and how the sets are moved around and made different for later scenes. During the lunch break, in which we see actors in costumes lined up inside the commissary, production designer Mark Leese gives a tour of all the sets on the soundstage, including the courtroom. Bill Gower, who’s in charge of stand-by props, is the most fascinating figure in the featurette, explaining candle continuity, how he must cut down the candles during a scene to represent the passing of time while the cases are being argued. After he’s gotten them down to the necessary size, he lights them again all around the set. For most of its movies, Hollywood seems to thinks that no one would really be interested in the behind-the-scenes wizardry of its movies. But how else is one to learn about candle continuity, and other tasks that go into the making of a show? “Garrow’s Law: From Dawn to Dusk,” sometimes tells, by way of its interviews, but it always shows. That’s most important in making a great featurette. This is a great featurette.
The second disc also includes a photo gallery of 14 photos set to dramatic instrumentals. If you want to look for longer at the photos, you have to push the pause button. And there’s cast filmographies for Alun Armstrong, Andrew Buchan, Rupert Graves, Lyndsey Marshal, and Aidan McArdle. They’re good for being surprised at some of the movies in which these actors have appeared. I didn’t even know that Aidan McArdle was in Ella Enchanted. But then, I didn’t know who he was back then.
Garrow’s Law is pitch-perfect legal drama for an afternoon, an evening, a welcome change from American legal dramas, and far more interesting. In only two discs, Acorn Media has made another enormous leap in being a major force in the DVD market. If you want something totally different from what you usually watch, you know where to go.
