Courtroom dramas are a staple of the thriller genre. Think of films like ’12 Angry Men’ and ‘Anatomy Of A Murder’ (both from the 1950s), and TV dramas like ‘The Twelve’, the gripping Australian drama starring Sam Neill from 2022. There’s something about the coming together of 12 individuals to determine the fate of the accused that fascinates us.
If you want to avoid all spoilers, stop reading this article now.
This ‘The Twelve’ (nothing to do with the Sam Neill series mentioned above) is set in Belgium where a father and daughter are on trial for the murder of their wife/stepmother. Marianne Coens has been killed, her body had fallen down the stairs. But how she got there is a mystery. Her stepdaughter, Julie (Louisa Peeters), has confessed to pushing her – but says it was an accident. Her husband, Anton (Koen De Graeve), with whom she had a drunken argument prior to her death, is also accused, but says he wasn’t there when it happened.
But the guilt or innocence of these two is only part of this story. It’s equally about the lives and beliefs of the 12 men and women of the jury. We get a glimpse into their personalities – their principles, their morals and their prejudices. For some jurors, there are parallels between the main protagonists in the trial and their own personal lives, which brings out feelings of compassion and empathy – or, at the other extreme, feelings of resentment and mistrust. Alliances are made between the jurors – friendships and relationships develop. But there are also personality clashes between individuals with strong and contrasting values.
And the third piece in the puzzle are the legal representatives on both sides of the divide. Claire Verlinden (Inge Paulussen) representing Julie, the daughter; and Frank Dedoncker (Peter Van den Begin, who you might recognise from the excellent thriller Tabula Rasa from 2017) representing Anton.
This is actually the second season of ‘The Twelve’, but the first series was an entirely different trial and set of characters, so you certainly won’t need to have seen that to enjoy these eight episodes. And I think you will enjoy them – it’s a little slow and ponderous at times, and the mood is largely sombre (the downbeat background music adding to the solemn tone) – but it’s very well acted, and the script is engaging and believable. You will inevitably be drawn more towards certain jurors, and equally find yourself disliking others – and that’s part of the series’ appeal. It’s almost like we’re putting the jurors on trial.
If you’re a fan of courtroom drama, give this a go. On the evidence of the early episodes, this could quickly become a guilty (or not guilty) pleasure.
Walter Presents: ‘The Twelve – The Cinderella Murder’ launches on More4 on 10th May at 9pm. Episodes available on Walter Presents via Channel 4 Streaming each week.
