television & radio  The Briefs; Britain's Favourite Supermarket
Foods – TV review  Burglar Alex, claw-hammer Gary and their ilk
almost make you sorry for lawyers The Briefs Their workload is
huge and seemingly pointless ... The Briefs. Photograph: ITV
It's not often you feel sorry for lawyers. The Briefs (ITV) gets
you closer than most. The second two-part documentary about life
at Tuckers, the country's busiest legal aid-funded criminal law
firm, began with what you rapidly realise is the usual array of
theft, burglary, assault (aggravated or, for those who didn't
manage to pick up a hammer or an axe on their way,
unaggravated), public order offences and so, very much, on.
It's a topsy-turvy world, in which 23-year-old Kyle Backhouse –
who is, as the voiceover diplomatically puts it, on his 34th
matter with Tuckers – is described as "the perfect client"
because he is (like 70% of their clients) "repeat business … and
he always takes our advice. We never have any trouble with him."
A world in which another