Ever since The Traitors proved Britain still has a raging appetite for the kind of middlebrow social experiment-style reality shows that fuse irresistibly bananas interpersonal drama with compelling psychological insight – the Medjool date to Love Island and co’s Haribo Starmix, if you will – the TV industry has been pumping out fun yet relatively classy formats. Some have been fine (The Fortune Hotel), some mystifying (The Genius Game; Destination X), some too derivative (Million Dollar Secret) and some are yet to disappoint: persuasion-based gameshow The Inheritance, featuring Elizabeth Hurley, arrives imminently on Channel 4.
Really, though, the only show currently holding a candle to The Traitors is The Jury: Murder Trial (indeed, in May, they competed for the best reality Bafta; the latter won). Following two groups of 12 strangers as they play jury during a word-for-word reconstruction of a real criminal trial, the 2024 series shone a light on the enigma at the heart of the justice system. Jury deliberations are top secret, meaning lawyers, judges and academics have little understanding of how jurors digest evidence, draw individual conclusions or – crucially – arrive at a unanimous decision.
