The Bench (TV series)

Last updated

The Bench
Thebenchtitlecard.jpg
Genre Legal drama
Created by
  • Catherine Treganna
  • Matthew Robinson
Written byCatherine Treganna
Directed by
  • Matthew Evans
  • Elwyn Williams
  • Keith Washington
Starring
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes20 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerMatthew Robinson
ProducerKaren Lewis
Production location Wales
EditorWill Oswald
Running time30 minutes
Production company BBC Wales
Original release
Network BBC One
Release17 October 2001 (2001-10-17) 
13 June 2002 (2002-06-13)

The Bench is a Welsh television legal drama series, co-created by Matthew Robinson and lead writer Catherine Treganna, that first broadcast on BBC One Wales from 17 October 2001. [1] The English-language series follows the daily lives of a group of the prosecutors and defenders of a busy magistrates court, including long suffering Des Davies (Mark Lewis Jones) and young whippersnapper Ranjit Singh (Phaldut Sharma).

Contents

Two series of the programme were broadcast, having been filmed back-to-back during the summer of 2001. The series was initially broadcast at 8:30pm on Fridays on BBC One Wales, before being repeated in their entirety an afternoon slot nationwide on BBC One from 27 May 2002. [2] A late night repeat on BBC Two followed in June 2008. [3] The series won three BAFTA Cymru awards in 2003, [4] with Eiry Thomas winning Best Actress, Bill Broomfield winning Best Director of Photography for a drama series and Will Oswald winning Best Editor. [5]

Neither series has been released on DVD, but in 2020, both were released in their entirety on Amazon Prime Video under a deal with Acorn TV, making them available in the United States for the first time. [6]

Cast

Episodes

Series 1 (2001)

EpisodeTitleDirectorWriterOriginal airdate
1TBAMatthew EvansCatherine Treganna17 October 2001 (2001-10-17)
A hungover Des expects defending a local publican to be a walkover, but has not reckoned on the skills of new prosecutor Cheryl Cates. And for some young girls, the real drama takes place outside the courtroom.
2TBAEmlyn WilliamsCatherine Treganna24 October 2001 (2001-10-24)
Leanne is trying to make a new life for herself, but her previous boyfriend has other plans. Meanwhile, Mrs Dee is determined to bring her son to justice.
3TBAEmlyn WilliamsRoger Williams31 October 2001 (2001-10-31)
A family are left devastated after the death of a daughter in a road accident.
4TBAEmlyn WilliamsRoger Williams7 November 2001 (2001-11-07)
Farmer Parry is accused of neglecting his animals, while Ange is accused of neglecting her baby.
5TBAEmlyn WilliamsJon Treganna14 November 2001 (2001-11-14)
Ranjit and Des place a bet on the outcome of a case involving a violent feud between two cockle-picking families.
6TBAEmlyn WilliamsCatherine Treganna21 November 2001 (2001-11-21)
Matrimonial issues are on the agenda  not just in court, but behind the scenes as well.
7TBAKeith WashingtonCatherine Treganna28 November 2001 (2001-11-28)
Simon and Gareth are in court to give evidence against Natalie, but find their relationship under scrutiny.
8TBAKeith WashingtonCatherine Treganna5 December 2001 (2001-12-05)
Two teenagers give Des a hard time when he tries to defend them. A young doctor has to decide whether to tell the truth when confronted by the patient who assaulted her.
9TBAKeith WashingtonCatherine Treganna12 December 2001 (2001-12-12)
Des and Ranjit fall out when Leanne and Brink re-appear in court on charge of possession. Meanwhile, Katherine is desperate for Hugh to open the box.
10TBAKeith WashingtonJon Tregenna19 December 2001 (2001-12-19)
Leanne's future hangs in the balance, forcing Des and Ranjit to examine their role in events.

Series 2 (2002)

EpisodeTitleDirectorWriterOriginal airdate
1TBAKeith WashingtonJon Tregenna12 April 2002 (2002-04-12)
A mother and daughter are both on trial and must decide who takes the blame. Des can't resist being mean to a new rival.
2TBAMatthew EvansCatherine Treganna19 April 2002 (2002-04-19)
When two desperate parents fight to get their children out of the care of social services, the magistrates must make a tough and heartbreaking decision. Katharine faces a crisis in her personal life.
3TBAMatthew EvansCatherine Treganna26 April 2002 (2002-04-26)
When a defendant arrives drunk and disorderly for his trial, proceedings dissolve into chaos. Meanwhile, a loyal grandmother tries every trick in the book to win her grandson bail.
4TBAMatthew EvansCatherine Treganna3 May 2002 (2002-05-03)
A married man's one night stand leads to bitterness and recrimination in and out of the courtroom. Cheryl's stressful day brings her closer to one of her colleagues.
5TBAMatthew EvansCatherine Treganna10 May 2002 (2002-05-10)
Hugh faces a stark choice between his career and his personal loyalty to a defendant. Des has something to celebrate.
6TBAMatthew EvansCatherine Treganna17 May 2002 (2002-05-17)
A father faces every parent's nightmare when his teenage son appears in court. Des is on a high in his personal life, but could get out of this depth when he decides to take on a hardened criminal as a client.
7TBAMatthew EvansCatherine Treganna29 May 2002 (2002-05-29)
Ranjit realizes a client has become over-attached, and Des is compromised by his involvement with a criminal family. Work threatens to damage their personal lives.
8TBAMatthew EvansJason Sutton5 June 2002 (2002-06-05)
The magistrates are eagerly anticipating the ballot to decide the chair of Penbridge Magistrates' court. The friendship of rival candidates Val and Peter faces its greatest test.
9TBAMatthew EvansJason Sutton12 June 2002 (2002-06-12)

The press descend on the court for the sentencing of a teacher who had a relationship with a pupil. Meanwhile Des and Cheryl reach crisis point.

Featuring Ruth Jones as Mandy Jenkins
10TBAMatthew EvansCatherine Treganna13 June 2002 (2002-06-13)
When his client frames an innocent man, Des is not only compromised, but in great danger.

See also

Notes

  1. "BBC press release". BBC Press Office. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  2. "BBC Programme Index".
  3. "BBC Two - the Bench, Series 1 - Episode guide".
  4. "Court drama scoops awards". BBC News. 27 April 2003. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  5. "BAFTA Awards, Wales, April 26, 2003". IMDb. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  6. "Watch the Bench | Prime Video". Amazon UK.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siân Phillips</span> Welsh actress, born 1933

Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips, known professionally as Siân Phillips, is a Welsh actress. She has performed the title roles in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler and George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan and is also particularly known for her performance as Livia in the 1976 BBC television series I, Claudius.

Caerdydd is a Welsh language television programme set in Cardiff made by Fiction Factory for Welsh public service television station S4C. The series is "a stylish, new drama about modern, urban Welsh-speakers living in a bilingual city" following "a group of modern urban twenty- and thirtysomethings" with "their complex friendships and relationships [set] against a backdrop of relentless socialising". First commissioned by S4C's drama editor Angharad Jones in 2005, as part of a drive by S4C to reach a younger audience, the third series of Caerdydd started its run on S4C on 30 March 2008. A fourth series was commissioned and went into production in Spring 2008. It started broadcasting on 14 June 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhys Ifans</span> Welsh actor (born 1967)

Rhys Owain Evans, better known as Rhys Ifans, is a Welsh actor. He is best known for his roles in Notting Hill (1999), Kevin & Perry Go Large (2000), and Enduring Love (2004) as well as his portrayals of Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010), the supervillain Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), and Grigori Rasputin in The King's Man (2021). Other roles include Hector DeJean in the Epix thriller series Berlin Station, Mycroft Holmes in the CBS series Elementary, and Ser Otto Hightower in the HBO fantasy series House of the Dragon.

This article is about the particular significance of the year 2005 to Wales and its people.

This article is about the particular significance of the year 2006 to Wales and its people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Jones</span> Welsh actress, producer and writer

Ruth Alexandra Elisabeth Jones is a Welsh actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She co-wrote and co-starred in the award-winning BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey. She later co-wrote and starred in the Sky One comedy-drama Stella (2012-2017), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance and won the BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Screenwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eve Myles</span> Welsh actress (born 1978)

Eve Myles is a Welsh actress. She is best known for her television roles portraying Ceri Lewis in the long-running BBC Wales drama series Belonging (2000–2009), Gwen Cooper in the BBC science-fiction series Torchwood (2006–2011), and Faith Howells in the bilingually produced BBC / S4C drama series Keeping Faith / Un Bore Mercher (2017–2020). She is also an accomplished theatre actress.

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1988 to Wales and its people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shân Cothi</span> Welsh singer-songwriter, television and radio presenter

Shân Margaretta Morgan, known professionally as Shân Cothi, is a Welsh singer-songwriter, television and radio presenter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aneirin Hughes</span> Welsh actor and singer

Aneirin Hughes is a Welsh actor and singer known for playing Chief Superintendent Brian Prosser in the BBC4 Welsh police drama Hinterland. He won a Best Actor BAFTA Cymru for his appearance as Delme in Cameleon (1997), a Welsh language film.

Jon Jones is a Welsh film and television writer and director working primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States. He has directed numerous dramas for British and American television including the award-winning When I'm Sixty-Four, The Diary of Anne Frank, Blood Strangers, The Alan Clark Diaries, A Very Social Secretary, Northanger Abbey, Zen, Mr Selfridge and Going Postal.

Phaldut "Paul" Sharma is a Welsh actor and dancer. He is known for playing Achmed in Gavin & Stacey and AJ Ahmed in EastEnders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parthian Books</span> Publishers from Wales

Parthian Books is an independent publisher based in Cardigan, Wales. Editorially-led, it publishes a range of contemporary fiction, poetry, drama, art books, literature in translation, and non-fiction. Since its foundation in 1993, Parthian has published some of the best-known works of contemporary Welsh literature including Work, Sex and Rugby (1993) by Lewis Davies, In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl (2000) by Rachel Trezise, Crawling Through Thorns (2008) by John Sam Jones, Pigeon (2017) by Alys Conran, and Hello Friend We Missed You (2020) by Richard Owain Roberts. It is involved in the European literary scene and has also published celebrity autobiographies, such as Griff Rhys Jones' Insufficiently Welsh, and Boyd Clack's Kisses Sweeter Than Wine. In 2019, Parthian was recognised as the Small Press of the Year for Wales at the "Nibbies", the British Book Awards. Parthian's motto is "A Carnival of Voices in Independent Publishing".

Baker Boys is a television drama series produced by BBC Wales and broadcast on BBC One Wales. The series was written by Helen Raynor and Gary Owen. Torchwood creator Russell T Davies also had a role as creative consultant, which he fulfilled from Los Angeles. The first episode of the series was broadcast on 23 January 2011.

Philippa Lowthorpe is an English film and television director. She was awarded the Deluxe Director Award at the WFTV Film and Television Awards for the miniseries Three Girls. She recently directed episodes of the second season of The Crown and the 2020 film Misbehaviour.

<i>Keeping Faith</i> (TV series) Welsh television series

Keeping Faith is a Welsh thriller television series, filmed and set in Wales, and first broadcast in Welsh on S4C from 5 November 2017.

<i>In My Skin</i> (TV series) British television series

In My Skin is a British comedy drama television series written by Kayleigh Llewellyn that premiered on BBC Three on 14 October 2018. The series was initially ordered as a short film for BBC Wales, but this later acted as the pilot episode after BBC ordered In My Skin as a full series. The series stars Gabrielle Creevy, James Wilbraham, Poppy Lee Friar, Jo Hartley, Aled ap Steffan, Di Botcher, Georgia Furlong and Rhodri Meilir. In March 2021, In My Skin was renewed for a second and final series, which premiered on 7 November 2021. The series has received critical acclaim, as well as numerous awards from ceremonies including BAFTA Cymru and the RTS Programme Awards.

Events from the year 2021 in Wales.

Men Up is a Welsh television film broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, about the first ever clinical trials for the drug viagra, which took place in Swansea in 1994. Russell T Davies is amongst the executive producers. The cast includes Aneurin Barnard, Alexandra Roach, Phaldut Sharma, Iwan Rheon, Steffan Rhodri and Joanna Page. It aired on 29 December 2023.

References