The Jury - 2 ª Season

Convicted five years earlier of killing three women he met on the Internet,Alan Lane,represented by Emma Watts,is back in court following a successful appeal for a retrial with a new jury. Its members include Paul Brierley,who acts as carer for his elderly mother,unhappily married Krystina Bamford and elderly Jefferey Livingstone,who befriends Sudanese refugee Tahir Takana. Young Rashid gets his summons on his eighteenth birthday whilst Lucy Cartwright is on the jury by default - she was sent to the court by her boss,the designated juror Theresa Vestey,whom she now has to impersonate - and for teacher Katherine Bulmore jury service comes as a welcome escape from the affair she is having with a young pupil. One of the jurors,Ann Skalles,appears to know Lane and,as the trial is adjourned after the first day,sends him a letter telling him to have faith. Paul,meanwhile,is followed home by a mysterious woman.

Alarmed at the position she is in Lucy coerces Theresa into rewarding her with a raise and promotion whilst Tashir receives the letter in response to his application to join his brother in America. As the trial begins prosecutor Dawkins calls the manageress of the dating agency where Lane met the victims to attest to his violent behaviour getting him banned whilst defender Ms. Watts counters by proving the first victim to be a liar but she is reprimanded by the judge for goading a police witness. In the recess Krystyna approaches the agency manageress for her card whilst Tasha,the mystery woman who followed Paul,engineers a deliberate meeting and a date with him,explaining that she was on the jury at Lane's first trial. After a further prosecution witness claims that Lane used several false names to meet women Watts puts forward that he had an alibi for one of the murders. In the evening Krystyna creates her Internet dating profile whilst Paul tells his mother about Tasha and Lane gets another letter from religious juror Ann.

Whilst Rashid obsesses over archive material of the first trial Paul's mother collapses and is rushed to hospital but insists he keeps his date with Tasha. Lucy makes sure Theresa gets a daily bulletin so that it will be her decision as to the verdict. On the trial's second day Ms. Watts savages the very young,arrogant police commander in charge of the enquiry,suggesting another dating agency client who has since killed himself was the murderer. In the lunch hour Jeffery and Tahir consolidate their friendship as the older man learns of the youngster's harrowing ordeal in the Sudan,Katherine discovers she is pregnant and vain juror Derek goes for his daily tanning session. Tasha plays on Paul's loneliness to try and tap him for the jury's opinions. Then Lane takes the stand,claiming he fled from the first victim's sexual advances and had an alibi for the second murder. That evening Rashid is mugged and Krystina severely disappointed by her Internet date who has lied about himself and from whom she runs away.

Rashid refuses to call the police as he feels it would draw attention to his Aspergers Syndrome,Katherine contemplates abortion and Lucy and Theresa do their homework. Lane takes the stand and is savaged by prosecutor Mallory,goading him into an outburst about religion. In the recess Jeffery takes Tashir to the American embassy where he gets his visa and Tasha provides Paul with damning evidence about Lane from the first trial. Paul is voted jury foreman though there is a 50/50 split over the verdict. In the evening Tahir rings his brother in Nebraska and finds he has changed his name to fit in while Krystina is relieved to see her husband again.

The last day of the trial coincides with a government vote on the abolition of jury service. Krystina,following her Internet dating experience,realises how much she loves her husband and Katherine resigns as the trial has taught her to treasure life and keep the baby. As the jury reassembles Katherine suggests that the retrial is due to a high likelihood of Lane's innocence and Jeffery and Tahir agree. Paul mentions his meetings with Tasha,who told him that threads from one victim's throw were found in Lane's car and this throws the jurors into confusion as the evidence is private and so inadmissible. As a compromise they agree to anonymously write their opinions on paper put into a hat,though the verdict is hung. Then Rashid reveals to Paul that,in the light of his studying the first trial,he knows Tasha is an impostor so Paul resigns as foreman and is replaced by Katherine. The verdict is delivered,after which Derek explains why he was always going to the tanning salon and Paul learns of Tasha's true purpose in befriending him. Nine months on the jurors have a reunion. Tahir has renounced America to become a British citizen and Paul,whose mother has recently died,congratulates new mother Katherine. They are all very pleased to hear that the government's proposal to end the jury system has been defeated.