Nothing But the Truth

Nothing But the Truth is where Kavanagh QC begins, and it opens with a rape trial. James Kavanagh, played by John Thaw, is a successful and over-worked London barrister, and the client he defends is David Armstrong, played by Ewan McGregor in an early screen role. Armstrong is a Cambridge student of impeccable background who works for a man whose wife says he raped her. TVDB describes him as a young labourer who is accused of attacking the housewife he works for, in her own home.

The accuser is Eve Kendall, played by Alison Steadman. Her husband Alan is having an affair, and she is lonely. At first sight that makes her look like a fantasist who has built a story out of a consensual encounter, and that is the line Kavanagh takes in defending his client. Wikipedia's summary does not say whether the jury believes it.

Kavanagh's own home is in trouble too. His wife Lizzie, played by Lisa Harrow in the series, is upset by her husband's workaholism, and she is having an affair with a colleague. The case and the marriage run side by side, as they do in the first three series, which the reviewer at the Classic Film and TV Cafe saw as the way the show mixes private life with cases before it settles into courtroom work from the fourth.

The series was made by Central Television for ITV. Susan Rogers and Ted Childs created it, Childs was executive producer, and Chris Kelly produced. Russell Lewis wrote this first film and Colin Gregg directed it. Lewis also wrote for Cadfael, another Central series with the same executive producer. Anne Dudley composed the theme for the first series.

Robin Bailey appears as Lord Probyn, Rosalind Bailey as Cynthia Kavanagh, and Daisy Bates and Tom Brodie play his children Kate and Matt. Among the others in the cast are David Cardy as Alan Kendall, Philip Bowen as Professor Bellamy and Mrs Greaves, played by Joan Blackham.

The film went out on Tuesday 3 January 1995, in the 8.30pm slot. Writing in The Spectator four days later, Nigella Lawson said she thought Thaw could act, though it was difficult to know what that meant on television. She felt that opening the series with a rape case showed a want of confidence in the writing, but she liked the way the series shows the difference between justice and legality, and she noted that Kavanagh is an advocate rather than a detective.

IMDb voters give the film 7.7 out of 10.

The sources read do not give the verdict, so this account stops with the case still to be decided.