Cameras get everywhere. Factories, zoos, hospitals, space shuttles, parliaments, Westminster Abbey for the coronation - rare is the institution that has not welcomed them through the door.
Courts in the UK have been different. Progress here has been slow and painstaking, and coverage extends in the main to showing a brief clip from sentencing. We are a long way yet from the American system of streaming trials live.
Should that change I would like to think the Murder Trial documentaries will be given credit for removing some of the concerns surrounding cameras in court. The next in the series, Murder Trial: The Killing of Dr Brenda Page (BBC Scotland, Tuesday-Wednesday, next week, 10pm; BBC2, Wednesday-Thursday, 9pm, both episodes on iPlayer on Tuesday), is typical of the series’ restrained style.
Made by Firecrest Films for BBC Scotland, each series makes the viewer a fly on the courtroom wall. It is not access all areas: the jury is never shown, and witnesses can have their voice altered, or be shot from the neck down, to prevent identification.
READ MORE: Scotland's Home of the Year finale
The atmosphere is respectful throughout. Outside court, interviews with prosecution and defence lawyers explain what they are doing and why. There are sit-downs with family members, and police officers who worked on the case.
Crucially, the camera is allowed to film the accused in close-up, and show the reactions of family members as evidence is heard. This tends to be the most revealing aspect of the coverage, as is the case in this two-parter.
Dr Brenda Page, 32, a scientist at Aberdeen University, was found murdered in her flat in July 1978. Her ex-husband, Christopher ‘Kit’ Harrison, now 80, is on trial accused of her murder. He pleads not guilty.
More than four decades on, and despite the coverage down the years, the case still has the power to shock, with one particular piece of evidence standing out.
Present throughout proceedings are members of Dr Page’s family. It has been a long, hard road to get here. As Dr Page’s nephew, Chris, says: “It’s such a strange feeling coming to court and the guy who is accused of murdering Auntie Brenda is there, walking amongst us. He’s so different from what I remember but he looks so old. In other words, it makes you think what Brenda would be like now.”
A thoughtful and illuminating look at justice in action.
READ MORE: Jane McDonald in Gran Canaria
Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild (Channel 5, Tuesday, 9pm) is in Thailand to meet one man and his dog making a huge difference to the lives of others, human and canine.
The Irishman came to Thailand four years ago with thoughts of retirement. He had made enough money from his years as a chef on yachts, and from a social media business he started, to kick back at the age of 44. The plan was to head for the beach and take it from there.
He found himself drifting, however. The hard-drinking that went with his years in hospitality became worse, to the point where he ended up in intensive care.
With that life not working, Niall decided to try a new one. He poured what was left of his money and his restless energy into opening a sanctuary for street dogs on the island of Koh Samui. Besides providing medical and emotional care (a lot of tummy rubs) in the sanctuary he has taken on the feeding of the island’s 800 or so stray dogs.
Fellow dog lover Fogle is right at home from the off, helping Niall on his feeding rounds and organising a dog pool party for a fundraising video.
It is life of long days and a lot of physical work. It can be tough going emotionally as well, with many of the street dogs turning up in a pitiful state. Fogle wonders whether Niall has taken on too much. Time for one of those soul-searching conversations that the presenter handles so well.
For more TV previews please subscribe
Last week it was double Oscar-winner Jodie Foster gracing the small screen with her presence in True Detective: Night Country. This week it is Nicole Kidman’s turn with her new drama, Expats (Amazon Prime Video, episodes one and two from Friday).
Created by Lulu Wang, and based on the novel, The Expatriates, the six-part series is set in Hong Kong with Kidman as Margaret, one of a group of American women linked by a tragedy. Finally, it is time for Claudia Winkleman to don that raven-coloured cloak for the last time as The Traitors (BBC1, Friday, 9pm) comes to a close.
The first series was such a runaway success, particularly with younger viewers, that there was always the chance of second series dip, and so it has turned out. There have been a few changes to the formula, and not always welcome ones. With last Wednesday’s episode, featuring three contenders lying in coffins, the series came dangerously close to jumping the shark.
What has saved the series is a smattering of strong characters, and the mother-son duo was a smart touch. In case you are wondering, series three has already been commissioned and applications are invited.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here