The Jury: Murder Trial release date, premise, reactions and what to know

Just how foolproof really is the UK's court jury system? That's what new Channel 4 show The Jury: Murder Trial wants to find out.

The show is part legal drama, part historical re-enactment and part reality show, as two different groups of juries watch the same case and come to potentially different conclusions.

It has sparked ahuge debate in the newspapers about how effective the jury system is. The two groups of people are shown a re-enactment of a real murder trial: the case of a man named John Risedale who was charged with the murder of his wife. Names, dates and locations are changed in the dramatization, but the rest is based on transcripts from the case.

It concludes on Thursday night with the final episode. The prosecution and defence give their closing speeches and the juries retire to decide their verdicts, though both start divided. In the red jury, Ricky is sure it is manslaughter and hopes he can persuade his fellow jurors that he is right. However, two rival camps soon form. In the blue jury, Sonia and Olly are convinced it is murder, and while some are swayed, others say they will never agree. As the days pass, the debates become increasingly heated in both juries. Finally, however, they reach their verdicts

Here's what you need to know about The Jury: Murder Trial...

The Jury: Murder Trial release date

The Jury: Murder Trial began on Channel 4 at 9 pm on Monday, February 26. 

The show concludes on Thursday, February 29 at 9 pm.

Can't watch the show as it's broadcasted? You can use Channel 4's streaming service, inexplicably also called Channel 4, in order to watch it. Channel 4 (the streaming service) also lets you watch live TV from Channel 4 (the TV channel) so you can watch The Jury online this way if you'd like.

Not in the UK? There's no word on whether The Jury: Murder Trial will be made available elsewhere, so you'll have to use a VPN to watch Channel 4 from abroad.

The Jury: Murder Trial premise

In The Jury: Murder Trial, there are two juries of members of the public. They all come from different walks of life and have different backgrounds, some of which may give them unique bearings on events.

These two groups of people are shown a re-enactment of a real murder trial: the case of a man named John Risedale who was charged with the murder of his wife. 

Individually, these two juries will then decide on the fate of the defendant, using their own life experiences to decide the verdict.

Will the differing life experiences of each jury member sway the decision of the group? The Jury: Murder Trial aims to find out, with the legal experiment exploring how defendants' fates can be inexplicably tied to the life experiences of those who are picked to judge them.

It was filmed over ten days in a former courthouse in Essex.

The Jury: Murder Trial reactions

After the first episode of The Jury: Murder Trial was broadcast, people took to X (Twitter) to discuss what they thought.

Some found it both interesting and terrifying for what it said about the British legal system:

But others noticed issues with the way the trial was presented to the juries, or the TV show was presented to audiences, that may have impacted the results of this 'social experiment'.