As the episode begins, Talitha Campbell (Celine Buckens) and Dhillon Harwood (Joseph Payne) arrive at the courtroom as we hear a news report about the upcoming trial and demonstrators outside. We see flashbacks to the ball and Dhillon is wearing the green scarf before day one of the trial begins. Adam Reynolds (Sam Hoare) begins talking to the jury about the events at the ball. He explains Dhillon and Talitha left the ball sometime after Hannah Ellis (Abra Thompson) left her shift. He explains that Dhillon admits they went to Hannah’s house, but she died as the result of an accident and he didn’t play any part in it. He theorizes that Hannah was strangled with the scarf within an hour of Dhillon and Talitha entering her room. Adam finishes by saying both are guilty of Hannah’s murder. Niche Barie (Rebecca Grant) and Emma Hemmings (Lu Corfield) will be making opening statements as well.

Niche tells the jury that it was Talitha’s scarf that was used to kill Hannah while Emma reminds them Dhillon admits he was there. Niche insists her client was under Talitha’s influence and the unequal friendship convinced Dhillon to collude with her. Emma believes the jury will have a great deal of doubt once they’ve reviewed all the evidence and will have to acquit her. Next, Dhillon asks Meera (Lolita Chakrabarti) and Niche what he’ll get if he is only guilt on the unlawful burial charge. Niche explains the maximum is life although the sentence can be as little as a fine. The average is five to eight years. Dhillon insists he wants the truth to come out. He is fine with being Talitha’s Chihuahua but not a murderer. As for Lucinda Bright (Clea Martin), Dhillon says she is crazy and he wishes he’d never heard her name. Meera comforts her son and tells him it’ll be okay as long as he tells the truth.

Cleo (Tracy Ifeachor) talks to Damian Campbell (James Frain) about Cressida not being at the trial although Damian believes it is for the best. He admits Cressida’s presence wouldn’t have been a big comfort to Talitha and believes she should focus on discrediting their new forensic evidence. Brian (Rupert Holliday-Evans) enters and learns Cleo will be questioning Paula Cassidy while her silk could be questioning Talitha if she takes the stand. Damian calls it a show trial because it won’t be settled on the evidence. He believes the jury will hate her so Brian says she needs to push Paula about the rucksack. Before the second day of the trial begins, Talitha suggests that Paula Cassidy (Sinead Keenan) planted the evidence on the bracelet, but Cleo wants her to find a different answer. She warns her it could make a significant difference to the rest of her life. She makes up a story about Hannah letting her borrow the rucksack before laughing about it. Next, Paula takes the stand and Adam asks the jury to look at photograph 7C which is the fireplace.

Paula tells them about it and alleges that Dhillon burned the evidence there. She goes on to say that he was burning a scarf and a fiber of it was found on Talitha’s bracelet. She says there is no doubt that Talitha’s scarf was the murder weapon. When asked if the evidence shows Talitha was wearing the scarf throughout the ball, Paula says yes. Then, Cleo asks her if Talitha is wearing the scarf in the last CCTV footage they have of them. She admits they couldn’t tell if she was. Paula says Dhillon was the last person to have the scarf since he was trying to burn it. Cleo asks about Troy Manners (Angus Castle-Doughty) and the fact they suspected he killed Hannah first. The next questions are about the debit card that was used in the West Midlands. Paula is forced to agree that the bank card was found in a person’s house that has connections to Troy. During a break, James Thornley (Kerr Logan) tells Paula that her answers made the jury frown.

He warns her that the jurors are going to be discussing Troy Manners. Sure enough, the jury sends a note asking for more information about Troy. However, Judy Isobel Cavendish (Elizabeth Rider) tells them that the crown and defense will give evidence and they’ll have to judge on that evidence alone. Cleo checks out a news report about the case and believes Talitha might be wearing the bracelet. She goes to Talitha to ask her about the Green Man music festival. Cleo tells her about the photo which was found on the Facebook page of Amber Morton. Talitha believes they took rucksacks, but she isn’t sure if she wore the bracelet. The photo isn’t clear and they’re having trouble tracking down Amber. Talitha insists she will kill herself if she is found guilty.

Cleo tells her how important it is to find a way to negate the bracelet evidence. Virginia Hoult (Sharon D. Clarke) and the team talk about their next witnesses and Vendler. Adam warns them that Mrs. Vendler’s evidence may not be allowed. James thought about visiting Lydia (Amy Marston) to tell her that her testimony might not be allowed. They joke about how good James is with widows before he visits Lydia who tells him about being a poet and teacher. Lydia mentions Talitha and asks James if he would’ve turned her down. She says Stephen claimed every man immediately determines whether they’d sleep with a woman when they meet them. James says that might be true, but in real life happiness and society aren’t dependent on people’s thoughts. He admits it wasn’t an interesting or useful thing to say. Lydia likes that answer. She says Stephen killed himself because he had a conscience and thought he caused Hannah’s death. During day three of the trial, they talk about Talitha’s bracelet.

English tells them about the nylon fiber they found on the bracelet Talitha was wearing during the ball. He also demonstrates how they think it got there. English concludes that means Talitha was involved in the disposal of Hannah’s body. Emma asks how long a fiber could be stuck in a bracelet like that. Although it grows increasingly unlikely over time, it could stay there for a long time. During a break, Niche tells Meera that Talitha’s defense is either bluffing or they’ll explain when the fiber was placed on the bracelet later. Meanwhile, Virginia believes the defense has a big problem since you can only get away with one possible but unlikely situation. James says the judge will give her decision about Talitha’s porn history on Monday although he doesn’t think they need it. He thinks Lydia Vendler is the game changer for the prosecution. Paula is worried her evidence will be ruled as hearsay though.

They think Talitha’s team will be most scared of Lydia and Paula says they believe they can buy their way out of anything. Meanwhile, Cleo talks to Brian and Damian about the rucksack and admits the jury will only have their word that Talitha wore the bracelet to the Green Man Festival. Cressida and Damian prepare to leave on a helicopter to go to Scotland. Cleo admits she doesn’t approve on aesthetic grounds. Damian says they’ll meet again on Sunday evening. Paula does to the spot where the body was likely dumped in the water. James and Andrea (Claire Lams) take Spam for a walk and she tells him that she is worried about testifying and letting her daughter down. James doesn’t believe she has ever let Hannah down. When Spam doesn’t come back, Andrea walks over and imagines the dog is playing with Hannah. James does to the pub for Paula’s birthday and Andy Lowell (Christopher Hatherall) says something about the ball footage.

Then, he begins to worry James knows what he is talking about. During the fourth day of the trial, the judge refuses to let the jury hear Talitha’s pornographic history, but she allows Lydia’s testimony. Lucinda Bright takes the stand and tells the jury about her complaint against Dhillon Harwood. She says Dhillon took pictures of her without her consent and said he wanted to give her all his possessions. She says there was sexually inappropriate behavior although it wasn’t part of her complaint. The judge stops it and sends the jury out of the room. Dhillon tells his mom and Niche that he didn’t do anything like that. Meera says he started having sex with Lucinda while she was still sleeping, but he says he didn’t know that. He lied about the condom too. Niche realizes she is going to have to go at Lucinda hard to help her client. When they return to the courtroom, Niche tells the jury about Lucinda doxing someone and practicing witchcraft.

She also accuses her of being a racist witch due to a past complaint although Lucinda denies everything. Talitha finds that funny and tells Cleo she can’t believe Dhillon never told her about it. She says there is a lot worse than what Dhillon did to Lucinda. Cleo asks if what happened to her was worse, but Talitha doesn’t want to talk about it. Then, she says she remembers wearing orange during the festival and likely had the bracelet as well. Cleo meets with her partner to tell her that Talitha was abused as a child by her mother’s friends. She realizes that the case against Talitha is very strong and she may have to use the abuse story to change the jury’s opinion about Talitha. Damian won’t let her though. James and Virginia talk about Lucinda. Although Meera didn’t like her being battered, Virginia believes she’ll learn to live with it if Dhillon gets off. Virginia says she wants both defendants. James tells her about what Andy said and the fact that the evidence could stand another look.

Virginia agrees but says the establishment has good lawyers and should request it. He is encouraged to focus on what they want which is a double conviction. Andrea goes to the courtroom the next day to talk about the visit she had from Stephen on the day of his death. Cleo meets with Troy to ask him about the bank card and other things. He tells her why he gave Talitha the Lady Tease nickname. Troy reveals that Talitha is actually picky until the media suggests. He also says Talitha was who she was and never changed when talking to him. He won’t go to the scum from the papers as a result. He believes Talitha was truthful and funny. He agrees to tell her about the bank card as long as she doesn’t send him a summons. She takes the information back to Brian and Damian. Troy’s sister Jodie stole the debit card from a bag at the ball. Cleo says he liked Talitha and she believes the jury might respond to Talitha. She says they have everything to risk though and Damian realizes it is risky for everyone concerned.

He encourages her to tread carefully with his family’s reputation and his business image. He warns her not to make him unhappy because there are no third chances. That night, James goes through the evidence trying to find out what Andy was talking about. Talitha sings to herself that night before day five begins. Lydia takes the stand. She says she saw Stephen before he went to Andrea’s home and he believed he was responsible for Hannah’s death. She didn’t see him after that although he texted before he died. Stephen didn’t talk about Talitha but he liked Hannah and said she was impressive. She says Stephen told her something about Talitha after the news broke. Emma tries to stop her, but Lydia refuses and continues talking. She says her husband claimed Talitha had no soul and was preternaturally cruel. Stephen said Talitha told him that her fantasy was to kill another girl during sex.

When questioned by Emma, Lydia says she doesn’t feel anger toward Talitha because she had no obligation to her. Emma asks if they’re supposed to take her word for everything she has said. Lydia says she remembers what her husband said although Emma tries to make her look like a liar. Lydia says it was a letter from her husband from the hotel after he left Andrea’s house. It arrived after his death and she hasn’t shared it with anyone yet since it contains details of their marriage. However, it will back up the claims she made in court today and will produce it if the court requires it. Stephen believed both killed Hannah and he was the indirect cause. Emma tells Cleo to start thinking about a plea change in mitigation because she is done for.

 

Showtrial Review

Ultimately, I felt this episode of Showtrial would’ve been the best considering it was the start of the trial. However, I was disappointed with some of the things that happened. It felt like the writers took the easy way out by setting up the video of the green scarf early on. Now, James is going to find that video and likely hand it over to Cleo.

Second, I can’t believe they showed Andrea arrive at the courthouse but never showed her testimony. I was looking forward to that. So far, James’s interactions with Andrea and Lydia have been the most interesting scenes. Still, the episode was pretty good. I am eager to see how things are going to play out. The episode scores a 7 out of 10. All Showtrial recaps can be found on Reel Mockery here.

I had to rush this near the end so please excuse me if I missed anything or made any minor mistakes.