The award winning BBC1 drama Garrow’s Law returned for its third series on Sunday November 13th and the producers have again used the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) funded Old Bailey Online digital archive as a resource in making the programme.
The starting point for ‘Garrow's Law’, which had viewing figures of over five and a half million per episode for its second series, were the tales of metropolitan street life of Georgian London and the subsequent courtroom dramas contained in Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org), which, when combined with the scholarly research which underpinned that project, has made these stories available to millions of researchers, family historians, and writers, supporting a wealth of further scholarship and creative activity.
Garrow’s Law, a BBC legal drama inspired by the real life story of 18th century barrister William Garrow, was recognised by the Royal Television Society (RTS) when it was announced as a winner at the RTS Programme Awards 2009 and increased its audience figures for the second series.
The AHRC-funded ‘Old Bailey Proceedings Online’ makes available a fully searchable, digitised collection of all surviving editions of the Old Bailey Proceedings from 1674 to 1913. It allows access to over 197,000 trials and biographical details of approximately 2,500 men and women executed at Tyburn, publicly available and completely free of charge.
The first episode of the third series can be viewed online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b017gcq9/Garrows_Law_Series_3_Episode_1/
ENDS
Media Contact: Jake Gilmore, AHRC Communications Manager; T: 01793 41 6021,
E: j.gilmore@ahrc.ac.uk
Notes to Editors:
The Old Bailey Proceedings Online is a collaboration between the Open University, and the Universities of Hertfordshire and Sheffield, this project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Big Lottery Fund. Project Directors are Clive Emsley, Tim Hitchcock, and Robert Shoemaker. It is published by HRI Online Publications, and technical services were provided by the Higher Education Digitisation Service and HRI Digital at the Humanities Research Institute. http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/index.jsp
The third series of ‘Garrow’s Law: Tales from the Old Bailey’ commenced on BBC One on Sunday November 13th and runs for four weeks. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w5c2w
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC): Each year the AHRC provides approximately £100 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes hundreds of research awards ranging from individual fellowships to major collaborative projects as well as over 1,100 studentship awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.