The Jury: Murder Trial
The Jury: Murder Trial is a British reality television series. Each series is a verbatim re-enactment from court records of a real murder trial in which actors take the parts of the legal teams and judges while the jurors are people drawn from every-day life.
Premise
The series questions whether or not juries randomly drawn from citizens from all backgrounds without legal qualifications are suitable for making a just decision in cases that can lead to life prison sentences.In Series 1 which aired in February 2024, two juries in isolation of each other followed the re-enactment of a real case in which a man admits to killing his wife with a hammer after two months of marriage because he 'just snapped', hoping for a verdict of the lesser crime of manslaughter. The second series which was broadcast in August 2025 is a reconstruction of a murder trial in which a woman is accused of having stabbed her partner to death during an alleged attempt by him to strangle her during a domestic altercation. The series was again filmed with actors for the court officials but only one jury of randomly selected citizens.
Reception
The first series of The Jury: Murder Trial won 'Best Reality' at the 2025 British Academy Television Awards and 'Best Original Programme' at the Broadcast Awards 2025.Television critic Lucy Mangan gave the first series.
Writing for The Guardian Rachel Aroesti awarded 4 out of 5 stars for the second series, stating "Are random citizens fit to dole out life sentences? Probably not. Does the jury system double as a Petri dish for truly illuminating reality TV? Absolutely."