Garrow's Law – the research behind the BBC drama
The creators of Garrow's Law, the BBC legal drama inspired by the life of pioneering Eighteenth century barrister William Garrow, have drawn extensively on a website developed by the University of Sheffield's Professor Bob Shoemaker, along with partners at Hertfordshire and the Open University.
Professionally and personally, William Garrow was a man who could not resist confronting the status quo. Garrow, who made his name as a barrister at the Old Bailey, was a passionate believer in social and legal justice. He championed the poor and was openly critical of the corrupt reward-driven criminal justice system - themes that are explored in the new four-part BBC drama series. Each episode focuses on a case sourced from the Old Bailey archives, from rape and murder to high treason and corruption.
The Old Bailey Online, which receives around 7,000 visitors a day, is a fully searchable, digitised collection of all surviving editions of the Old Bailey Proceedings from 1674 to 1913. It allows access to over 197,000 trials and biographical details of approximately 2,500 men and women executed at Tyburn, publicly available and completely free of charge.
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Lottery, the Old Bailey Online is the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published.
The website was developed by HRI Digital at the University of Sheffield's Humanities Research Institute, in partnership with the University of Hertfordshire and the Open University.
Robert Shoemaker, Professor of Eighteenth-Century British history at the University of Sheffield explains: "Our criminal pasts have long been a source of great intrigue. When the Old Bailey Online launched in 2008 the huge number of people worldwide logging on to see if they could uncover a black sheep in their family caused the server to crash and proved the unquestionable popularity of this fascinating area of family and social history. Since then, more than ten million users, including the makers of Garrow's Law, have visited the site."
Professor Shoemaker concludes: "The legal exploits of William Garrow, who made his name at the Old Bailey, portray a passionate believer in legal justice. For viewers who are inspired by the new series, The Old Bailey Online will remain the chief resource for those seeking further information about the numerous trials - over 1,000 - in which Garrow appeared."
For further information, please contact Professor Robert Shoemaker at:
Tel : 0114 222 2584
email : R.Shoemaker@sheffield.ac.uk