It is now possible for television cameras to follow a person from maternity ward (One Born Every Minute) to funeral parlour (Stacey Dooley: Inside the Undertakers). One of the few remaining places the all-seeing eyes cannot go is the jury room.

In what was billed as a “groundbreaking experiment”, The Jury: Murder Trial (C4, Monday-Thursday) might have brought that day closer. Assuming the authorities would dare, that is. Having watched this restaging of a murder trial over four nights, I’m not so sure.

The case was real (with details changed to protect anonymity) and the lawyers, judge, accused and witnesses were actors. Listening to the evidence were two juries made up of “ordinary people” (ie those who had agreed to take part). The juries did not know about each other, using separate staircases to exit and enter the court-like building in Chelmsford, Essex. As far as each was concerned the fate of the defendant, a man accused of murdering his wife, lay in their hands alone.

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Having heard the same evidence, would the juries arrive at the same verdict, and what did it say about the fairness of jury trials if they did not?

What an eye-opener this was, less 12 Angry Men than Several Irate Geezers and a Few Teary Women. If you could put aside the stagier elements it was a gripping look at one of the bedrocks of democracy in action - and the stuff of nightmares. Watching this, judge-only trials suddenly seemed an idea worth exploring.

Prejudices soon surfaced. “Three children, three different dads,” muttered one (male) juror about the victim. Another said: “She didn’t deserve to die, but she was asking for it.” That was a woman. By the end of the first day several jurors were feeling sorry for the accused.

Equally concerning was the way members settled into a hierarchy, with the stronger personalities at the top. Ricky the builder seemed to take it personally when someone disagreed with him, and set about trying to convince them otherwise. Cliques formed.

Whatever opinion the viewer formed at the end of the four days they are unlikely to forget this glimpse behind the jury room door.

Where The Jury picked out the worst in human nature, The Rescue (BBC2, Sunday) offered solid grounds for hope. Over close to two hours it told the true story of 12 boys and their football coach stuck in a flooded cave in Thailand in June 2018. The world’s media watched as Thai rescue services, plus divers from the Thai navy, tried and failed to reach them.

One British expat, Vern Unsworth, knew the caves and a handful of cavers, all of whom dived for a hobby, who might be able to help. The call went out, the “amateurs” flew in from Britain and elsewhere, and a superhuman effort to get the children out began.

A more unassuming group of adventurers would be hard to find but this worked to the film’s benefit. What could have been, understandably enough, a tale drenched in sentiment instead had its sharp edges as tensions at the site grew.

Using a mix of footage filmed at the time, interviews with the divers, and reenacted scenes, the rescue was shown in all its hair-raising intensity. As one of the divers said, if things had gone another way the backlash would have been huge. A plan was in place to get them out of the country asap, should it be needed.

Six years on, the story has lost none of it its power to amaze and this thrilling doc more than did it justice. Come the end, even hardened TV reporters were wiping specks of something out of their eyes.

The Herald: Call the Midwife Call the Midwife (Image: free)

One thing you can usually depend on is a heartwarming Sunday night in the company of Call the Midwife (BBC1, Sunday). Note that word usually. I have found this, the 13th series, hard-going.

The joy of Heidi Thomas’s drama lies in its ability to mix serious hard-hitting drama and gentle humour. Yet of late, as they almost say in The History Boys, it has been one blooming thing after another with very little, if anything, by way of light relief.

It might be the Trixie-Matthew marital woes that have tipped the balance too far into the gloom. Fairly or unfairly, we’ve come to rely on Trixie for much-needed frippery, but the sight of her teary little face these past weeks has been too much to bear. Never mind, it’s the series finale tomorrow. Oh dear.

Scotland’s Greatest Escape (BBC Scotland, Wednesday) returned for another go at finding the best places for a break. The first category was “unique and unusual”. In other words something surprising and extraordinary.

Out of the Blue was certainly that with its architecturally cool Pilot House and Captain’s Cabin and spectacular views towards Mull. Very nice. It was also strangely familiar. Then I remembered seeing it in Channel 4’s Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig, and George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces. It’s a small world right enough.