Customer Reviews

Judge John Deed: Season One & Pilot Episode

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Each Episode is complete, yet there is an ongoing Political and Love theme which needs the avid viewer to watch all of them in order.

Fascinating interplay between characters whose depth develops throughout.

John Deed is the Judge you would want on your side IF YOU WERE INNOCENT and he doesn't care whose toes he steps on to arrive at the truth. The higher the better.

The 'Establishment' wants to get rid of him at any cost and many times John Deed lays out their opportunities on a plate.

We have watched most episodes previously via Satellite TV from the UK but they are so addictive that we are now embarking on acquiring the complete series.

Brilliant

Bill & Jenny Wynn
Port Elizabeth
South Africa

WHAT A GREAT DRAMA. FROM THE PILOT THROUGH THE FINAL EPISODE YOU'LL THOROUGHLY ENJOY THE "JUDGE" WHO IS A VERY SERIOUS, HUMOROUS AND FAIR MAN DURING A TRIAL WHILE BUTTING HEADS WITH THOSE IN POWER.

Judge John Deed: Season One & Pilot Episode

If you want little more than to be sexually seduced by the able actor Martin Shaw, then this series is for you. Shaw is an excellent actor; and without his musky presence in this smokey set of dramas, the shows would sink to the bottom of The English Channel before they were able to reach the murky shores of the Hudson River in New York, USA.

If you're looking for a set of courtroom dramas that pay heed to British law, then this show is sure to disappoint. The plots are outlandish in that they defy the law at every opportunity in favor of carnal titillation.

If like me you first watched Martin Shaw play the role of George Gently -- honest, noble, and yes, sexually attractive character -- and if in addition you expect to see in this series the same type of honest force for the law expressed within that character's personality, then look again and in a different direction.

In my opinion, this show is little more than a chick flick dressed in magisterial robes. I won't be purchasing Season Two.

I like Martin Shaw as an actor and legal/cop shows even more but I had a very mixed reaction to this series. Judge Deed is a compelling character, tough and uncomprimising in his work but blind to his huge flaws in his personal behavior. He's the Judge you'd want if you were a victim of crime--but if he fancy's your Wife he'll have no hesitation coming on to her right in front of you. I found it hard to like the Judge by the end of the first season considering his "horn dog" behavior on display in every episode. Maybe bedding married women is just accepted, 'normal behavior' from public officials in England/Europe but I found it hard to be impressed with Judge Deed's speeches about justice when he appeared to have such a low opinion of Women. I will not be purchasing season II of this show.

My husband and I are both fans of the brit law and order show, and all brit mystery/courtroom/police dramas.
This is again another good one. A little different twist, but we enjoyed it a lot!

The American Constitution and the Bill of Rights did not arise in a vacuum. The founding fathers were born British subjects and sought to preserve in a written constitution the rights implicit in the English unwritten constitution. Among those cardinal rights was the guarantee of an independent judiciary, a right which Edmund Burke described as "the cold neutrality of an impartial judge."

Judge John Deed is a High Court justice. He wears scarlet robes trimmed in ermine. His elevation to the bench following a successful career as a crusading barrister was controversial. It is his lot to draw cases which are of some interest to the Lord Chancellor, who appoints judges to the bench but is simply another party politician. Thus arises the central theme of this series-are English judges a part of the government or do they stand apart from the government.

John Deed allows much personal interference in his courtroom in a manner no real judge on either side of the pond would. He intervenes for his college-aged daughter, he presides over cases in which his long time love interest represents a party, he presides over cases in which his ex-wife is the barrister before him, he has ex parte meetings in chambers with barristers and witnesses appearing before him.

The only interest this kind of conduct has to the Lord Chancllors office is it whether it can use it to either influence a decision or remove him from the bench. Complicating things is Deed's affair with the wife of his principal tormentor in the government, and this infidelity shakes his relationship with Mrs Mills, his long time girlfriend.

But Deed will not compromise ever on the issue of the neutrality and independence of the judiciary. In each episode he risks personal disgrace to preserve the unwritten constitution my fellow countrymen so admired. It's fiction. It's preachy. It's quite good.

This is a hypnotic series, but one that is radically flawed. The backstory: Deed is a baker's son (adopted, we later learn) who goes to Oxford and aces his legal studies. A successful `radical' barrister he takes a 300% salary hit to become a judge. On the bench he preempts the prosecutors and defense counsels by asking questions and interposing his own opinions. He loves the law, but when the law or its processes get in the way of justice he finds other ways to achieve the latter. This is a major problem for the bureaucrats in the Lord Chancellor's office who bedevil him with spies, moles, weasels and every manner of officialdom vermin.

Oh yes, and he's got an overcharged libido which, very curiously and quite implausibly is seldom matched (despite his love of the law) with a superego. He occasionally hits on his ex (`ice maiden') wife, continually attempts to seduce one of the QC's who appears before him in court but snuggles with him in chambers, and leaves room in his life for other female targets of opportunity, including the wife of the chief weasel in the Lord Chancellor's office.

This is all sustained and held together by the remarkable performances of Martin Shaw, known to many as the `George Gently' character, but also the very best performer in the Adam Dalgleish role. Shaw is the show, the whole show, and he is superb.

The ins, outs and contortions of British law will be of great interest to American audiences. The plots are never dull, but they are often wildly implausible. The subplots with Judge Deed's daughter, `adopted' dog Rosie as well as adult, human females are engaging. The episodes stand alone, but given the rhythms of the subplots it is best to see them in order.

As you watch you are likely to be frustrated with the direction (nudge-nudge winking in the courtroom, inappropriate sexual interactions at precisely the wrong moments and especially the machinations of the Lord Chancellor's office's ferrets and dweebs). At the same time you will be mesmerized by Shaw's performances and come running back for more.

Martin Shaw not only does an excellent job playing a British judge conducting (usually) criminal trials but he also comes across as a very appealing middle aged man. Make that downright sexy for those of you who want a quietly sexy judge as well! Part of what works so well is that he has a marvelous voice. He rarely raises it and it is all the more effective for being on the quiet side.

Yes, this is yet another law and order show but it is quite unusual as every case is primarily seen from his point of view. Most of these shows revolve around the police instead. Deed is a maverick, as many police people are similarly portrayed. However, a judge must be a maverick in a much different way from that of a police person or a barrister. He is much more insidious in his bucking of the system. He is very committed to what he does so there is no question of his being "gotten to." His personal life, while not sordid in any way, has a great deal of solitude and he is the "stick in the mud" to his daughter and father, also in the law.

The cases themselves and the barristers who are the supporting characters are also quite good but it is Deed himself who solidly anchors the show.

I highly recommend this show. Seasons 1-5 are the best. By Season 6, they are running out of ideas of what to do with Deed and his on again off again girlfriend, Jo Mills. They should have ended it with season 5.

Although we are fans of Martin Shaw, the character of Judge John Deed is annoying in his rather juvenile preoccupation with sex. While the show has some interesting courtroom drama one gets the impression that any halfway attractive woman that comes close is going to get propositioned by the judge regardless of whether she's married or single.

Judge Deed on one hand expressed a desire to find the truth and dispense justice from the bench while on the other exhibited a rather amazing disregard for the sanctity of marriage and seemed to see women as primarily sex objects. This was to me a rather jarring disconnect that interfered with my enjoyment of the story; when a pretty woman walked into the room one began to fear for her safety with the judge around.

I found Deed's daughter to be an annoying character to whom the end justified the means; she seemed to be constantly getting into trouble because of her actions and associations and then calling on daddy to use his position and influence to get her out of trouble. His repeated indulgence of his daughter helps explain how she became what she was.

All told I found the series had too much internal contradiction to be watchable; while claiming the moral high ground on the bench he, at the same time, plumbed the depths of moral depravity concerning women; hopping into bed with anyone who happened to be available.

Sadly, I cannot recommend this series.

A rare judge, who has compassion for the defendent, and really explores each case, much to the dismay of the attornies. Altho his personal life is a bit "loose" his charm and good looks pulls it off. Martin Shaw is outstanding - the best I've seen since John Thaw in the Inspector Morse series. My only regret about the Deed series is that subsequent series are not adaptable to American DVD players.