Crime of Passion TV series

Crime of Passion

1970 - United Kingdom

Playwright Ted Willis had been responsible for some of television's most successful plays and series. In Crime of Passion the creator of such typically British police shows such as Dixon of Dock Green and Sergeant Cork turned to France to reconstruct some of the true life cases that have qualified for that description. 

In France crime passionnel (or crime of passion) was a valid defence during murder cases; during the 19th century, some cases could result in a custodial sentence for two years for the murderer. Each play in the series was based on fact and was both a courtroom confrontation and a human drama. The story started by showing the crime in question before moving on to the trial and tracing the criminal act to its emotional roots. At the end of each episode the judge delivered his verdict. 

President of the Court was played by Anthony Newlands, while the grave-faced figures of prosecutor Maitre Lacan and defence council Maitre Savel were respectively played by John Phillips and Daniel Moynihan. Bernard Archer as Maitre Dubois appeared in the last series. Each episode was named after the person on trial.

Published on December 5th, 2018. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.

Read Next...

Girls About Town TV series

Two married women, one with her head in the clouds and the other with her feet on the ground, decide it's time their husbands took more notice of them.

Also released in 1970

Justice TV series

Courtroom drama series based on a one-off play.

Also tagged Courtroom Drama

Big Breadwinner Hog

Peter Egan stars as Hogarth, a ruthlessly ambitious, flash and violent small-time criminal who has visions of being king of London's criminal underworld.

Also tagged Crime Drama

Columbo

Shabby looking homicide detective uses his criminal knowledge and eye for detail to pit his wits against criminals.

Also tagged Crime Drama

Court Martial

Court Martial was a British made production co-funded by ITC (in the UK) and Roncom Productions (in the USA) which aired on ITV in 1965 and on ABC in 1966.

Also tagged Courtroom Drama

Luther TV Series

Writer Neil Cross spins wild and weird stories of gruesome killers against a less than lush London backdrop.

Also tagged Crime Drama

Arrest and Trial

Courtroom drama in two parts - the first shows the police investigation and consequential arrest, while the second shows the suspects trial.

Also tagged Courtroom Drama

Albert and Victoria

Alfred Marks starring comedy vehicle produced by Yorkshire Television and set, as the title suggests, in the late 19th century when Queen Victoria and her consort Prince Albert were the figureheads on the British throne.

Also released in 1970

Madigan

A grim-faced loner of the New York homicide division fights crime in an action packed cops and robbers series.

Also released in 1970