These are the best edge-of-your-seat and laugh-out-loud courtroom dramas ever made

Courtroom Drama at its best is usually over-the-top and full of shouting which almost never happens in Black Country or Shropshire courtrooms.

Star Court Reporter Adam Smith picks the cream of the crop when it comes to capturing the jury system, recently undermined by Channel 4's The Jury, on celluloid.

Twelve Angry Men - 1957

The 1957 Hollywood film Twelve Angry Men (and they were all men as it was written in 1954 when most states in America did not require women to fill their pretty little heads with such matters as justice) is the most famous dramatic depiction of a verdict being reached. Spawning remakes (1997), countless TV and stage redramatisations across the world, including a production with Great Bar Comprehensive School former pupil Martin Shaw taking the lead role at The Rep. 

Written by Reginald Rose, who had been a juror in a manslaughter trial in New York, the film tackles the hefty themes swirling in post-war America including race, where black men were still being lynched in the Deep South and talented writers, actors and directors being blacklisted from Hollywood due to McCarty-era Communist witch-hunts. 

First a 50 minute Emmy nominated TV drama screened in 1954, Henry Fonda bought the rights and eventually starred in the lead role of the 1957 film which became  a "tribute to a common man holding out against lynch mob mentality."

Hancock's Half Hour - Twelve Angry Men 

Two years later, Brummie comedian Tony Hancock and Carry On star Sid James played jurors in Hancock Half Hour episode 12 Angry Men (which included females as women were allowed on juries since the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919) in a brilliant satire of the more serious US film. 

This is my favourite ever depiction of what happens in jury rooms, written by Galton and Simpson, who perfectly lampooned our class system in Steptoe and Son, the motives of the decision makers were based on self-serving selfishness. 

When Sid James finds out how much he is being paid each day (30 Bob) to deliberate he is determined to keep them going as long as he can. My mum was on jury service the week before Christmas and said the jurors all decided to reach a verdict as quick as they could so they could do shopping instead of returning the next day, I didn't ask what the verdict was, but I hope it was innocent. 

A Few Good Men - 1992 

Jack Nicholson bellowing "You can't handle the truth!" at Tom Cruise in a Few Good Men is one of Hollywood's great courtroom drama moments. If overacting was a crime these pair would been swinging from the gallows by now.

The idealistic young cross-examiner winds up the Five Star General so much the more powerful man throws his family life and the reputation of the US Marines away just to make a point. It is rare to hear a raised voice in Wolverhampton Crown Court let alone a screaming match, but then again there are not any Oscars up for grabs in the Black Country justice system.

The Wire - Omar Takes The Stand - 2003

One of TV's great anti-heroes Omar from The Wire borrows a tie to do the unthinkable on Baltimore's murderous streets - he gives evidence for the prosecution against a fellow street thug who 'shot a civilian'. David Simon brilliantly turns justice on its head when self-confessed criminal Omar Little humiliates the slick lawyer cross-examining him about his moral code. He has one, and is not afraid to tell the lawyer being paid by blood money who is on the higher ground. After all, 'Omar never shot no civilian!'

 The Wire is rightly regarded as one of the greatest TV shows ever made and this court scene was picked by the cast as one of the five most important scenes in the entire series.

The Twelve - 2022

Australian drama The Jury is available on ITV and is courtroom drama at its best. Hollywood Peaky Blinder star Sam Neill stars in this brilliant drama which chronicles the lives of the jurors, defendant, witness and the barristers, inside and outside the court room. 

The fact the jury system in Australia is recognisable to UK audiences shows how our system has been adopted across the world. One of the few lasting positives from The British Empire is Australia, Canada and America have juries whereas India scrapped juries in 1961. The first series is set in Metropolitan Australia and the second in the Outback, they both show how a court case can be just a part of a juror's life at the time they are picked to serve.

A Time To Kill

Alright, Alright, Alright! Matthew McConaughey first big leading role saw the super smooth sounding Southern lawyer beating the racist system stacked against his black client Samuel L Jackson. Kevin Spacey plays the villain ready to execute anyone he can. 

The Lincoln Lawyer - 2011

 Fans of Mr McConaughey can watch him beat the odds again in the Lincoln Lawyer, when he manages to win cases whilst living out of his car. A successful TV series also followed the same story, but without Mr McConaughey in the lead role but instead Manuel Garcia-Rulfo. The idealist lawyer is the kind you wished existed but probably never has.  

To Kill A Mockingbird - 1962

Harper Lee's 1960 book about an Alabama 1930s racist town won the Pulitzer Prize and was turned into a Hollywood hit with Gregory Peck starring as lawyer Atticus Finch who defends a black man accused of raping a white woman. The townsfolk would rather lynch the accused than try him but one of cinema's good guys helped tilt the cultural axis in America from the KKK to John F. Kennedy's determination to rid the south of institutional racism. The film was nominated for multiple Oscars with Peck winning Best Actor. The film was released amid the civil-rights battle in America of the 1960s and helped the cultural 

Peep Show - Jurying - 2005

Jez gets called up for jury duty and breaks almost every rule in the book after telling his flat mate chapter and verse about the first day and deciding to convict as "there's no smoke without fire". 

However, a chance encounter with the female defendant in a coffee shop leads to ethical in flangrante. To swerve a clingy girlfriend-in-the-making Jez has to do an about turn and deliver a 12 Angry Men style speech to ensure she is sent down and out of his life. 

Rumpole of the Bailey 

Rumpole of the Bailey was a fixture on British TV screens from 1975 until 1992. Written by barrister John Mortimer it showed the shenanigans and scheming behind the country's most famous court - London's Old Bailey. Leo McKern played the barrister who would defend anyone who he came across and gave audiences the chance to see how justice really played out in the courtroom. Episodes are available on YouTube and thought a tad dated are a joy to watch. 

Blackadder Goes Forth - The Court Martial - 1989

Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Rowan Atkinson create comedy gold in this episode which sees Blackadder face court martial and a firing squad for killing his General's beloved pigeon. "Before we get down to sentencing the deceased, oh, sorry, the defendant," and "Deny everything Baldrick!" Are you Private Baldrick? "No" are just some of the unforgettable lines in the greatest lampooning of senseless killing ever made.  

Free the Weatherfield One - Coronation Street - 1998

Diedrie's trembling lip was so effective in Coronation Street the Prime Minister of the Day Tony Blair felt the need to comment on her 18 month sentence for fraud and theft in 1998. Just a year in the job Tony Blair, announced he would ask Home Secretary Jack Straw,  to look into the matter, adding in a real statement issued by 10 Downing Street: “It is clear to anyone with eyes in their head she is innocent and she should be freed.” Not to be outdone, the Leader of the Opposition William Hague responded: “The whole nation is deeply concerned about Deirdre, Conservatives as much as everyone else."  

Unlucky in love Diedrie rebounded from the death of her foreign squeeze Samir being stabbed to death right into the arms of fraudster and pretend pilot John Lindsay. The only time her boring ex-hubby Ken Barlow and Stourbridge Jack-the-Lad Mike Baldwin were on the same side was watching in horror as their former lover's face contorted in despair behind her Dennis Taylor style specs when the judge sent her down. 

Dramatic licence saw the judge ask the defendant: "Have you anything to say?" which never happens in real life.