Part 1 was a bit of a disappointment for me, but I’ll keep an open mind until the end of all four episodes…It was a bit crammed with the entertaining archaisms and amusing traditions which are frontloaded onto entry into the profession and frankly a bit hackneyed – the formal dinners and all the other stuff you have to contend with when training, and the whimsical stories everyone gets told on their first mini-pupillage (red bags etc). It’s not really representative of what the bar is all about. I can’t think when I last wore a wig and I have made a point of avoiding obnoxious formal dinners since I earnt my twelfth dining point and got called. And I shake other barrister’s hand just to annoy them (tradition says we don’t do that at the bar).
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I had understood that one of the barristers being followed was a family barrister, perhaps he or she will make an appearance in later episodes along with a bit more reality tv (I mean that literally not pejoratively) and a bit less confirming of stereotypes.
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Notwithstanding all the mildly amusing stories it wasn’t exactly an exciting piece of telly, but don’t let that dissuade you from watching future episodes – we are really not as dull as you might think from part 1 and I think it will get better….
Hi – I found the programme rather turgid. It had the dead hand of official PR spin all over it – not terribly adventurous filming – too many shots of a man in a black gown doing criminal damage to an Elizabethan floor with a staff and getting away with it.
A bit heavy going – perhaps I am being too critical – but it made the Bar look like a rather dull place to be?
I do not, as you know, practise – but I do enjoy observing what the learned friends and legal academic are up to having spent 25 years in legal education!
I do hope the next episodes are a bit more lively – there are, ironically, a fair number of very amusing, lively and progressive people at the Bar – so why all the loving shots of stained glass, wigs and robes….
Good to hear a view from a practising barrister. Can well understand your irritation with dinners. I did my dinners long ago – not for me.