User reviews

Rumpole fans already know the drill—solicitors (though we don't see much of them) deal with the clients and prepare a brief, barristers plead the case in court, either for the defense or the prosecution, and a small platoon of clerks take care of the business side. Experienced barristers who make the right moves can hope to "take silk," or be appointed to the privileged caste of Queen's Counsel (more prestigious cases, better money, even a bigger wig).

Maxine Peake is refreshingly unglamorous, with her crunchy Northern accent, and projects a wonderful intensity as one such barrister; Rupert Penry-Jones is well matched as a cynical, corner-cutting rival. This series does office politics extremely well; the first time we watched, I was blown away by a couple of brilliant scenes in which Neil Stuke, as Billy, the hard-nosed senior clerk, fights off a coup attempt and turns one of his big earners who's trying to defect. Apart from the climactic murder trial, court cases are a lot less flashy than you'd find in a show like "The Good Wife," but story lines are brisk, engaging, sometime surprising (Colombian drug mule explains why she's better off in prison); interesting that in the UK it's a criminal offense to own (or be) a pitbull. Supporting honors go to GoT's Natalie Dormer as a "spoony" (born with a silver one in her mouth, i.e.) pupil, Tom Hughes as a not-so-spoony pupil and Nina Sosanya as a mutinous junior barrister.

Here's hoping that the next few seasons will turn up before long on PBS and eventually on Netflix.

Another wonderful hit TV series by Peter Moffat. Outstanding performance by Maxine Peake and Rupert Penry Jones. This series gave a great look into the British Court System. Worth watching. Although I wish there was a better ending.

This show does not disappoint. It is so well done that you might forget you're watching a TV drama not real life events. The characters are believable, powerfully drawn, but the undeniable star of the show is Maxine Peake - her performance just superb! As Martha Costello she is everything that you'd imagine a superior barrister to be. Can't get enough of her credible acting to be honest. The rest of the cast deserves a praise too because it is thanks to them that this BBC drama is so uniquely authentic. Filmed in London (I think), it depicts daily life at Shoe Lane chambers and the work of British barristers, clerks and solicitors. I am professionally interested in law and find it hard to point out any flaws in how "Silk" presents the legal crowd in London. I do see a difference between an American show of this kind and a British one. The former tends to be focused on achievements, career and quirks of personality and the latter...hmmm...basically on the job, meaning you get a believable picture of the life at the chambers. If you're into this sort of thing just see for yourself, you won't be disappointed.

I really enjoyed watching every episodes of this series. I also watch The GOOD WIFE but at times do get very irritated with that series. Not with SILK. My son is studying law and so the interest in watching these courtroom dramas. The acting in SILK was very good, and the lead character Martha, a very likable character. This series gives you an insight into how law is practiced in the UK. It's not slick like The Good Wife, but more realistic. I can't wait for series 2. If you want to watch a really good drama with some fine acting, good realistic courtroom scenes and some office politics and intrigues then go no further than SILK. I wish the BBC would produce more fine dramas like this.

I watched this series first time round loved it so much I bought the whole thing again on amazon prime ,I maybe biased but as far as I'm concerned I would pay to watch Maxine peake do the washing up a fantastic actress and the writing and supporting cast top knot has.its a must watch

This is an absolutely spectacular series, please make more episodes, I feel abandoned.

I Loved This. But you need to know some stuff about U.K. Law.

1. In the U.K. there are barristers and solicitors; each practicing law. However only the barristers plead their cases in court. 2. So it is up to the solicitors to do the legal ground-work and then 'hire' a barrister to represent their client in court. And so, 3. Barristers market themselves to solicitors, hoping to get their 'business', and, 4. Barrister Law firms have 'Clerks' whose responsibilities include this marketing function. And finally, 5. Barrister Law firms can represent the 'government' much like District Attorneys do in the U.S.. So it is possible for a Barrister firm to represent both the defendant and plaintiff in the same case.

Maxine Peak and Rupert Penry Jones play Senior Barristers in the same firm, both vying for the position of 'Silk' which entitles them to appear in a higher level capacity. Both attorneys are more than capable, both have lives outside their professions, but the law is always at their centers. Neil Stuke plays the firm's Senior Clerk whose marketing schemes often are the cause of upset within the firm.

The Series ran for three years; six episodes per year, for a total of eighteen. There is an over-arching story to the eighteen episodes; how will the attorneys adjust their moral compasses as required by the demands of their work. That said, each episode does have its own conclusion; each 'closed case' adding to the cumulative effect on the attorneys.

If the series has a weakness it's the character played by Rupert Penry Jones. He is portrayed as the most handsome man in the history of time; every woman he meets hopes to bed him, and most do. It is a tiresome plot device and should have been discarded early on. That said, the series' 'heroine' played by Maxine Peak is one of those women. And we like and respect her so very much that her pursuit of Jones is somehow ...... disquieting. Unnerving. She deserves better.

One final point. Some reviewers have found fault with the series' closing episode. Final seconds, in fact.

Not I.

Really enjoyed all the series. Good cast of powerful but flawed characters. Variety of cases and situations kept it flowing. Terribly disappointed in the weak ending. I have no problem with leaving situations open and unsolved, but this was simply poor quality, cheap and lazy scriptwriting. The series deserved a better ending.

It truly was a pretty muddled, empty ending, to what for most every episode was a highly entertaining series. And it could have easily gone on for at minimum another couple seasons had they just maintained average storyline quality. But to end it the way they did really doesn't do justice to the exceptional character portrayal by one of the UK's top-notch actors. One with the greatest dialogue and integrity of the entire lot just disappearing into the night without comment... really??!! That's what they dreamed up this wonderful series coming to.. leaving all to the sleazy, office-manager screwing egocentric!! As it was nearing the end, a first thought was that would definitely like to see them keep the story going, but now they've pretty much ruined all future expectation and excitement for that ever happening. They've blown up that hope in such a way it could never be meaningful again... what an absolute, bs waste.

I'm American so any inconsistencies in British law or courts aren't obvious to me. I absolutely love this show. The drama is fantastic and at times edge of your seat. Just when you think some characters are gone too far, they are brilliantly redeemed. I'm binge watching and have just started season three but I don't see it going downhill at all.

Stayed with it as long as I could because Peake is mesmerizing and the courtroom dialogue is very intelligent. But finally gave up because of the consistent, overbearing presentation of each criminal as a victim and the police consistently as "loathsome." A bit of balance would have been welcome.

This show is almost completely the same episode each time. I do more or less like the show or I would not be mid way through season two. the issue that makes it 5 stars instead of more is that the formula for each show is identical, only the side characters are different. One or more of the mains get a case in defense and the defendant refuses to tell them everything and they spend the rest of the show trying to get them to talk with varied results and in the end they "figure" out why they refused to talk and save the day at the eleventh hour. It gets a bit old and dull after awhile. They have built good main characters and a good number of juicy sub-plots but the main story of each episode is a repeat basically of the one before. Another thing that really gets on my nerve is how incredibly sanctimonious Martha Costello is in this show. She thinks she is so much more morally and ethically better than others yet she twists the law into what she wants it to be to suit her needs/wants.

I believe that the comments of a solicitor (see earlier reviews) are completely true and the series is far from being realistic. But am I enjoying watching House (being a doctor of medicine myself) because it is realistic? Lol. Of course not, if I would judge it from realistic side, time, diagnostic, budget and ethical constrains we have in real life, House is an annoying and superficial series, turning medicine into a tragicomic theater - but I choose to relax and enjoy the show. Same applies to Silk.

Like House, the fun of Silk lies mostly in its dialogs and, to some extent, non verbal communication and narcissistic characters (in and out of the court). Note I agree Silk lacks building of the characters. We only learn about Martha. We are becoming almost obsessed with her, as the camera frequently stays on her face for loooong time. Thus, not much place left for others or to put in some more of a story. However, I need to disagree with the previous reviewer about Clive Reader character. The comment about him was: "When he is not being a jackass, he's as nice and loyal as a puppy." Emmm .... This sounds like a stereotype of a successful alpha man and I definitely know a few like him (unfortunately not that cute to be worth making use of it).

I am a bit puzzled how some characters (Kate Brockman? - I thought she was allowed to stay?) disappear completely out of series as new ones get introduced. We miss the old ones, too. Am very puzzled over John Bright character as well. We are allowed to glance at his stunning and gorgeous appearance in almost every chapter, never to touch under surface - I wonder about his work and why is he sitting in the office ... Acting is good, but many times slightly exaggerated (theater style) - an example would be Jake Milner character. Pushing it a bit too far (but cute anyway).

The series seems underrated to me at IMDb. I promise it wont insult your intellect if you understand the concerns I raised above and have no expectations of any realism. It will give you an interesting drama, tension and sublime interactions. I love it, even though it looses its way at times. I think it is very enjoyable, much more than any other series I have seen.

We've had, and likely always will have, lots of legal dramas, from serious and dark to outright comedy. There's lot of dramatic gold to mine in this genre. In the US - Boston Legal, LA Law, Ally McBeal, Perry Mason and many more - in the UK - Kavanagh QC, Judge John Deed, Justice, Rumpole of the Bailey, The Main Chance (that was the 1960s), Garrows Law (historical) and lots of others. It's a well worn genre with plenty of scope for human interest, convoluted and clever story telling, contemporary themes, triumph of honesty over adversity, love and darkness. Now, I'm not a lawyer, and as to the accuracy of the portrayals of the protagonists, both legal and criminal, in "Silk" I'm not one to judge. For instance, I am a doctor, and had to stop watching "House" as the episodes became ever more bizarre and a travesty of medical life and practice. I couldn't take the drama seriously enough to continue to follow the series.. However, I'd rate "Silk" pretty highly - for its high production values and truly excellent acting, along with stories of contemporary interest ( many seeming to arise from factual occurrences), with underlying themes from episode to episode of the more personal dramas in the Shoe Lane practice with it's three main protagonists - , Billy, the Machiavellian clerk who has accumulated to himself much power through his misuse of his position of trust and his self-appointed role as a sort of Godfather of the practice; Martha - the out of place northerner and female to boot, a feisty, intelligent, articulate and scrupulously honest rising legal star; her colleague Clive - superficially charming but a rather devious, emotionally unreliable and inadequate personally, but who comes over as a surprisingly sympathetic character and is actually a very good and humane barrister. Their interactions with a few less prominent other members of the firm, and with a succession of legal apprentices, makes up the rest of each week's stories. In the genre of legal dramas I'd rate "Silk" very highly indeed - it's good television, entertaining, exciting at times, humorous at others and sometimes challenging and thought provoking. What more could anyone wish for sitting in front of their TV screen for an hour? I've been watching them again recently on Netflix, and without the intrusive adverts and with its improved picture quality, the series is even better than I remember when it was first broadcast.

... and had me completely immersed in the characters until the last episode where the viewer is left hanging and wondering 'WT_?' Did the writers get tired and just give up? Very disappointing "non" ending.

This is a series that starts out really well but deteriorates with each episode, ultimately fizzling out at the very end. It's a shame that the final episode is so confused and confusing! The acting is very good with many of the well-trained British actors in key roles.

As the series progresses, episodes become less coherent, and in the final season much of the storytelling just seems to lose coherence! It's as if the writers had already packed up and moved on to other projects, filling in only part-time to write episodes for the series.

However, it's still an entertaining and well-acted production!