Blitzing through season one of Garrow’s Law (2009-11), I had a number of revelatory thoughts about it. Mainly, it fits squarely into the Venn diagram of my interests: Procedurals (either police or law, or both) and historical costuming. There aren’t too many shows out there that straddle that divide with any kind of gracefulness, let me tell you.
This one, however, manages to present a well-researched historical drama concerning the law career of one Sir William Garrow, a barrister for the defense in late 18th-century London, whose exploits were apparently well-detailed in the records of the Old Bailey and the daily papers. He’s credited as reforming quite a bit about the advocacy system in Great Britain, as well as coining the phrase “presumed innocent until proven guilty.” Writer/co-creator of the show, Tony Marchant, clearly shows a great amount of care for the main character, played by Andrew Buchan. Lyndsey Marshal, as the legally astute Lady Sarah Hill, and Rupert Graves as her husband, Sir Arthur Hill, are smartly written. Alun Armstrong is John Southouse, a solicitor and friend of Garrow’s. Even Garrow’s rival barrister, Silvester, played by Aidan McArdle, is charmingly written to be more of a colleague than an actual antagonist, who is either calculatingly or inadvertently pushing Garrow to get better with every trial (the jury is still out on which it is).
And with that out of the way…
The costumes, designed by Andrea Galer (who is only credited with two episodes across the series on IMDB, but appears to have worked at least on the entirety of the first season, according to this ancient LiveJournal post that Kendra found while doing the Costumer’s Guide post on Ms. Galer’s work) were clearly researched with care — indeed, Ms. Galer notes that one of the dresses worn by Lyndsey Marshal was based on an extant gown in her own collection (but never mentions which dress it was, so we are left to wonder). Overall, there was very little to criticize about the costuming in the first series, other than the presence of that ubiquitous flouncey-collared redingote that seemed to have a heavy rotation for a good few years in the BBC costume department. It appears that two of the three known gowns originated with Garrow’s Law, so we might assume that Andrea Galer was responsible. That said, it’s been 7 years since Kendra wrote that post, and we still don’t know for certain if it’s based on an extant gown or just something fun that a costumer came up with and decided to run with it. So far, it appears to be the latter, until conclusive evidence persuades otherwise.
In closing, I thought this show was well worth the watch and will be watching the next two series at some point. I shall report back with my findings in due course.
The defense rests. What’s the jury’s verdict on Garrow’s Law (2009-11) Season One? Share it in the comments!
Find this frock flick at:
McCalls 7493 (the Pride&Prejudice&Zombies) has that collar style on one of the coat views. I just went in my sewing room and looked at the pattern piece. I’d describe it as maybe a quarter circle with a square growing out of one end, or like an asymmetrical keystone.
I loved this series, sorry when they didn’t do any more. It’s right in my wheelhouse. It’s set in the later 18th century. Until the 1750s, criminal trials were held in the open air, because of an old law and fears of infection from gaol fever, but then the central courtyard of the Old Bailey was roofed over. Barristers were rare then, and nearly faded away, because there wasn’t much money in it. The money was all in property law, which was still under Church Law.
As the law was secularised, property law was mostly dealt with in Chancery. When high-profile people (ie rich) were accused of a crime, they employed barristers to defend them, but that didn’t become common until later in the century. And Garrow was an important part of that. Eventually, the Chambers were filled again, as the law was slowly reformed.
Sorry to go on, but I was delighted to see Garrow featured in a TV series.
This looks like great fun, and thoughtful, too; thanks for the recommendation.
I love this show and bought it on DVD, and I’ve never seen it offered streaming anywhere! Lyndsey Marshall is an underused actress, which is sad. She was an amazing Kleopatra in Rome. Nice to see you’re watching Garrow!