Television is rarely short of a good legal drama, but The Twelve (ITVX) starts with an intriguing premise that promises to set it apart from the rest. An Australian adaptation of the Belgian series De Twaalf, it poses this question: what if the focus wasn’t the crime or the suspect, or even the lawyers battling it out in court, but the jurors? These men and women, complete with a full-spectrum variety of human flaws, must make one of the biggest decisions of their lives. While it should be based on the evidence set in front of them, The Twelve suggests that the jurors’ messy emotions, relationships and troubles have a considerable impact on the verdict.
Naturally, the case over which this jury has to deliberate is a juicy, complicated, all-consuming one that will last for weeks. An artist called Kate Lawson (Kate Mulvany) is accused of having murdered Claire Spears, her 14-year-old niece. The case has become a salacious media scandal, and the trial controversial, because there is no body. Even Claire’s parents disagree over whether or not Kate should be in the dock.
