Will Packham is an idealistic pupil barrister being shown the ropes by his cynical, worldly-wise pupilmaster Caroline. Mistakenly believing that his role is to serve justice ("No Will, a Barrister's job is to win"), Will must navigate his way through a criminal justice system seemingly designed to be as opaque and confusing as possible. While also dealing with his fellow pupils, each of them after the same single job at the end of their training and more than happy to stab each other in the back to get it. Can he succeed and hold on to his principles? Or will the system claim another victim?
Will Packham is an idealistic pupil barrister - or idealistic for now. His clients are at least as guilty as sin. His pupilmaster Caroline thinks he is a gutless snowflake. His fellow pupils want the same job as him and would stab each other to get it. Over the course of two days, Will has to defend a would-be murderer, keep a young slam poet out of custody and fetch Caroline a range of pastries. Can Will hold onto his principles and prove he has what it takes?
As Will grapples with whether to tell his girlfriend about his recent indiscretion, his new-found notoriety throws up a juicy opportunity. Meanwhile, Caroline wonders how much to let the jury know about a particularly unappealing client.
Caroline and Will take on a last-minute prosecution case, only to find that the system has conspired to make it almost impossible to win. Faced with an elderly skittish victim who just wants it all to be over, and an underfunded chaotic system that thwarts them at every turn, Caroline and Will ride their luck alongside a harassed CPS and an unhelpful volunteer, in a wacky race to bring a thug to justice. Meanwhile the pupils' competition heats up, and Liam and Danielle find incriminating evidence against Pia. Things get figuratively and literally dirty. Will, still juggling the deceit in his personal life, wants no part of it. But, in this world, who can afford to be an idealist?
An unusual series of incidents occurs on the London underground, and Will and Caroline find themselves lumbered with representing a man involved. As they delve deeper into the case, they find him difficult to get a handle on, and struggle to decide if he is just a harmless eccentric, or something much creepier. Will takes the opportunity to get to know his mentor a little better - and soon regrets it. Meanwhile, Ashley begins making some political moves.
Chambers is putting the pupils through their paces in a professionally acted mock trial. Liam and Danielle spend time with the actors to plan their case, only for Liam to fudge the boundaries between reality and fiction. Meanwhile Will learns the dark art of cross-examination from Caroline - only to find it's a skill he's going to need in his personal life too.
It's the day the pupils get ‘on their feet': addressing a court for the first time. But Will is reeling from the break-up of his relationship - and wondering whether the law is really for him.
Complete episode guide for Defending the Guilty with detailed information about every season and episode including air dates, summaries, ratings, and streaming availability in Japan.
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