The Sweetest Thing

The Sweetest Thing closes the first series with a murder in a hotel. The dead man was an entrepreneur known as a risk-taker, and a regular client of paid escorts. The woman accused of killing him is Annie Lewis, a high-class prostitute, and Kavanagh defends her. Anastasia Hille plays Annie.

Annie says she is innocent, and everything seems to point to her guilt except her own passionate protestations. She will not accept the plea bargain that the prosecution offers. The result is a client who insists on a full trial.

The prosecution relies on witnesses who say they saw her leaving the hotel just before the murder. The defence challenges their testimony. Annie says she left several hours earlier. The trial therefore turns on timing and on whether the witnesses can be trusted, and the cross-examination of those witnesses is the centre of Kavanagh's work.

At home, the film places a question mark over his marriage. Lizzie may be offered a senior appointment in the civil service in Strasbourg, which would take her out of the country, and Kavanagh is concerned about what that means for them. Their daughter Kate is about to leave for university and is having trouble with her boyfriend. Daisy Bates plays Kate, and Tom Brodie their son Matt.

In chambers the comedy is provided by Jeremy Aldermarten, who is at his chauvinistic best when he at first refuses Julia's request to play in the annual cricket match. Nicholas Jones plays the pompous Jeremy, and Anna Chancellor plays Julia, the junior barrister whom Nigella Lawson of The Spectator called engaging.

Adrian Hodges wrote the film and Paul Greengrass directed. The cast includes Jesse Birdsall as Des Carter, Stephen Boxer as Bobby Day, John Carlisle as Judge Trafford, Sam Cox as Dr Derek Buxton and Oliver Ford Davies as Peter Foxcott QC, the head of chambers.

It was shown on Tuesday 24 January 1995, the fourth of the first series' four films. The series would return after a gap of over a year, in February 1996. IMDb voters give this film 7.8 out of 10.

TVDB's description differs slightly from Wikipedia's, placing a job interview in Brussels with Kavanagh's daughter Lizzie, which looks like a confusion between the wife and the daughter. Wikipedia's version, in which the wife may take a Strasbourg post, is the one used here.

The sources read give no verdict, so the account ends before the jury returns.