In courtroom dramas, all eyes are usually on the lawyers – the silver-tongued pursuers or enemies of justice, navigating a complex and flawed system. Early in Foxtel’s 10-part series The Twelve, Sam Neill’s snooty member of the bar, Brett Colby, is speaking to his client Kate (Kate Mulvany), a photographer who has been charged with the murder of a teenage girl. Her appearance will be crucial during the trial, because, Colby says, leaning forward: “The jury is everything.” The show’s title then appears, to drive this point home.
But it seems The Twelve’s screenwriters (Sarah Walker, Brad Winters, Anchuli Felicia King, Leah Purcell, Tommy Murphy and Greg Waters, adapting a 2019 Belgium series of the same name) didn’t get the memo, because the show opens not with the jurors but visions of the suspect, Kate, and the victim. Only after that we are introduced to one juror-to-be, Georgina (Brooke Satchwell), and even then, her opening scene isn’t hers entirely. Director Daniel Nettheim (who directed the first three episodes of Stan’s explosively good series The Tourist) crosscuts between Georgina on her way to a jury selection process, and Kate being transferred from jail to the courthouse.
