A young man in the north east of England, Ryan Jarvis regarded as a nuisance burglar is run over by a vigilante during his regular street patrol.
Kavanagh is visited by Ryan's mother who wants the driver Ray West to face a private prosecution. Ryan has serious brain damage. The police will not bring charges because of the lack of corroborative evidence and West is an ex coper injured in the line of duty.
It is the usual courtroom drama with Kavanagh fighting an uphill battle, he even told the mother that the case was weak. All his witnesses are unreliable while West has the police supporting him. In one instance the Judge objects to the testimony given by a policeman, I noticed Kavanagh did not raise an objection to it.
As a television drama, this one is like a David versus Goliath battle. Ryan Jarvis was known to be a bad lad. So Kavanagh who is acting as the private prosecutor has to break down West's story that it was a tragic car accident.
Of course Ryan's mother should had sued West for a civil claim for damages regarding the personal injuries her son has suffered and would had succeeded even on a split liability basis. This is never mentioned here.
Even though this drama was made in the mid 1990s, it also portrays the racism and sexism in the legal profession that existed then. The new pupil at the chambers is having a difficult time with the barrister training her, making her do the photocopying.