BBC Scotland is to make British TV and legal history next week when it
screens a criminal trial on television for the first time.
There was clear delight in Queen Margaret Drive, Glasgow, yesterday
when the coup was announced at a news conference.
There was puzzlement that the network had shown little interest in
Focal Point's account of a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court, to be
broadcast in Scotland next Thursday. In Glasgow last week Mr John Birt,
the BBC director-general, said that he expected BBC Scotland to seize
its network opportunities.
The network in London has been making a similar, if broader, courtroom
documentary entitled The Trial which had been expected to go out at
Easter.
Earlier this year, Scottish Television screened film of civil court
action.
BBC legal correspondent Joshua Rosenberg will cover Focal Point's
programme but it is understood that other parts of the BBC, including
Newsnight, have been lukewarm about it.
Asked yesterday if there was an element of envy in the network's
response, producer Val Atkinson said: ''You might well think that. I
couldn't possibly comment. We are delighted to get in first.''
Focal Point's concealed cameras followed the trial of Philip Gorman
for theft of a public service bus, careless driving, and refusing a
breath test.
The programme, to be transmitted next Thursday at 8.30pm, begins with
a reconstruction of the events leading up to court. Evidence is heard
from police, a bus driver, eye-witnesses and a doctor.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article