A Sense of Loss

A Sense of Loss begins with a death that has a confession attached. A policewoman has been killed in the course of a robbery at a newsagent's shop, and a teenager, Paul Warwick, has confessed to it at interview. Kavanagh and his junior Julia Piper defend him. Rúaidhrí Conroy plays Paul.

Paul no longer stands by what he said. He now says that on the night in question he was at home with his single mother and his young disabled brother. And he refuses to help Kavanagh with his defence, which makes the barrister's task harder than in most of the series' cases, where the client can at least be relied on to want an acquittal.

TVDB describes the film as one that seems open and shut. The murder of a young policewoman looks like a clear case against a boy who has confessed. Under cross-examination, though, it proves not to be what it first seemed. Wikipedia says that there is more to the case than first meets the eye, and that the credibility of the police team involved starts to break down.

The structure is one the series used often. As Wikipedia's overview puts it, Kavanagh is usually seen defending a client who seems likely to be convicted until a twist in the case occurs. Here the twist is the weakness of the police evidence, and the drama comes from the questioning of the officers who took the confession.

Matthew Hall wrote the film, his second of the series, and Colin Gregg directed. Robin Bailey appears as Lord Probyn, Selina Boyack as WPC Claire Kemble, James Barriscale as DC Rook and Anni Domingo as Oyinda Barruba, with Donald Douglas as Mr Justice Danforth. Anna Chancellor, as Julia Piper, shares the defence with Thaw, and Oliver Ford Davies, Daisy Bates and Tom Brodie appear in the regular roles.

It was the fourth of the second series' six films and was shown, according to Wikipedia's table, on Monday 18 March 1996. TVDB and TVmaze give 19 March. Central Television made it for ITV.

IMDb voters give it 8.2 out of 10, one of the higher scores in the series.

The Classic Film and TV Café reviewer praised the show's writing as above average and said that there are several first-rate episodes in the run. The summaries of this film do not say how the case ends, whether the jury accepts Paul's alibi or what becomes of the officers whose evidence is questioned, so the account does not claim to know.