Showtrial is an anthology series, so this new season presents a completely different legal conundrum to the first.
Still, what remains is a penetrating gaze into the key topics of today’s society. From climate change to toxic masculinity, it’s all there in this complex and rich new season.
The hit-and-run murder of a high-profile climate activist is at the heart of this new season. Here’s all you need to know about the cast.
Michael Socha as PC Justin Mitchell
Justin Mitchell is the prime suspect of the drama accused of the hit-and-run murder of a high-profile climate activist. He’s charismatic, cocky and a compulsive gambler.
Writer Ben Richards explains how Justin is even more of a challenge than the suspect of the previous season, Talitha Campbell, “because it’s much more clear that he’s involved in this crime [and] our job is to unpack in what way and why”.
Michael Socha is best known for playing Harvey, his breakthrough role, in Shane Meadows’s This is England (2006). More recently, he played ‘King’ David Hartley, again with Meadows directing, in the period drama The Gallows Pole (2023).
Socha says that the “joy of playing Justin comes with his ambiguity, [as] you never really know what he’s thinking. There’s a lot of behind-the-lines intentions with Justin, and reasons behind his bravado.”
Adeel Akhtar as Sam Malik
The defence lawyer, Sam Malik, is a workaholic with his own mental troubles. He ploughs through his legal work believing that will keep him afloat. Writer Ben Richards places him as “at the heart of this Showtrial – in some ways he also operates as a kind of narrative voice.”
Adeel Akhtar won the BAFTA Award for Lead Actor for his role in the BBC drama Murdered by My Father in 2017. He describes his character as “by all accounts quite a successful lawyer, but it would seem he’s sacrificed a lot for that to happen. He’s neglected his home life, and his mental and physical health in pursuit of trying to be the best lawyer that he can be. We find him on edge at the start of the series.”
Nathalie Armin as Leila Hassoun-Kenny
The prosecutor, Leila Hassoun-Kenny, taunts and banters with Sam Malik, the defence lawyer, in this season.
“Her dad was an Iraqi exile,” writer Ben Richards explains, “her mum is a sort of post-modern academic and she has both of these elements feeding into her. She has a sense of humour and we see that in the dynamic between her and Sam when they clash over certain aspects of identity politics.”
Nathalie Armin starred in the English premiere of Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life, directed by Ivo Van Hove, in 2023. That same year she appeared as a regular in the BBC Three comedy series Juice.
Armin argues that what’s particularly “fascinating about her [character], and the way Ben has written her, is that all of this professionalism and composure can waver somewhat in her family life. She has a particularly interesting relationship with her sister – Tamara, played by Anna Wilson-Jones – and the two both regress and antagonise each other.”
Joe Dempsie as DI Miles Southgate
Miles Southgate has been drafted in from a neighbouring force to investigate the case. As a young detective, “Southgate is a bit of an outsider, not just in the story”, actor Joe Dempsie discloses, “but in life in general.”
Joe Dempsie played Chris Miles in the teen comedy-drama Skins from 2007 to 2008. More recently, he starred as Gendry Baratheon in Games of Thrones from 2011-2013 and 2017-2019.
Fisayo Akinade as Felix Owusu
The journalist in this season’s legal conundrum, Felix Owusu, was friends with the hit-and-run victim. “Through his research”, actor Fisayo Akinade elaborates, “he begins to realise there’s an even bigger story going on here. I think his favourite phrase is probably ‘there’s a bigger picture’.”
Fisayo Akinade is best known for his role as Dean Monroe in the Channel 4 series Cucumber and Banana. He also starred as Markham in the 2019 adaptation of David Copperfield. He notes that his character Felix “is deeply passionate and prepared to cross certain lines in order to get to the heart of the truth.”
