Kavanagh QC

A crusty barrister oversees difficult criminal cases while dealing with the demands of his family life.

Cast:John Thaw , Oliver Ford Davies , Nicholas Jones , Cliff Parisi , Lisa Harrow , Tom Brodie , Daisy Bates , Anna Chancellor , Jenny Jules , Valerie Edmond , Arkie Whiteley , Danny Midwinter , Geraldine James , Rebecca Front , Robert Ashby , Celestine Randall , Robin Bailey , Rosalind Bailey

1Season 1

S1.E1 ∙ Nothing But the Truth

Tue, Jan 3, 1995

When a respected student digging out a swimming pool in the garden of a housewife finds himself accused of raping her, Kavanagh takes up his defence.

2Season 1

S1.E2 ∙ Heartland

Tue, Jan 10, 1995

In Sunderland a young former car thief is run over by a local vigilante, leaving him brain damaged. His mother asks Kavanagh to to take on the case despite lack of sufficient evidence.

3Season 1

S1.E3 ∙ A Family Affair

Tue, Jan 17, 1995

Kavanagh prosecutes a pornographer and advocates for a divorced man who kidnapped his son in a custody case.

4Season 1

S1.E4 ∙ The Sweetest Thing

Tue, Jan 24, 1995

Kavanagh defends a high-priced prostitute accused of murdering a business tycoon, and wife Lizzie interviews for a job on the continent.

1Season 2

S2.E1 ∙ True Commitment

Mon, Feb 26, 1996

Kavanagh finds himself defending a left-leaning protester accused of stabbing a skinhead at a protest march. The accused claims that it was entirely his fault, but when he hears that his upper middle class girlfriend has shopped him to the police, he changes his story saying he was just being chivalrous and that it was his girlfriend who did the stabbing. The Kavanaghs continue their commuter marriage with Lizzie working in Strasbourg and it all proves to be a challenge to them both. Kate has left for Cambridge and Lizzie is pleased to hear that her tutor is the husband of one of her closest childhood friends. She is far less pleased when she learns that her daughter and the tutor are having an affair and Kavanagh himself simply blows a gasket.

2Season 2

S2.E2 ∙ Men of Substance

Mon, Mar 4, 1996

When another QC becomes ill, Kavanagh inherits the prosecution of a ruthless drug dealer with a record of intimidating witnesses and their families.

3Season 2

S2.E3 ∙ The Burning Deck

Mon, Mar 11, 1996

Two sailors, one a young officer with a family pedigree and a common seaman who is a childhood friend are accused of setting fire to their ship's barracks.

4Season 2

S2.E4 ∙ A Sense of Loss

Tue, Mar 19, 1996

The shooting of a young policewoman draws Kavanagh into a tragic case in which his client refuses to help himself.

5Season 2

S2.E5 ∙ A Stranger in the Family

1996

An industrial accident at a recycling plant leaves a young man mentally and physically impaired. Kavanagh goes to court to secure a fair settlement from the insurance company for the family.

6Season 2

S2.E6 ∙ Job Satisfaction

Tue, Apr 2, 1996

Kavanagh faces the most complex case of his career: a man and his sister appear to have murdered their father, a farmer, and his second wife.

1Season 3

S3.E1 ∙ Mute of Malice

Mon, Mar 3, 1997

An army chaplain is accused of killing his brother after returning home from duty in Bosnia, but he will or cannot speak in his own defense.

2Season 3

S3.E2 ∙ Blood Money

Mon, Mar 10, 1997

The widow of an accident victim who unexpectedly dies from a heart attack during surgery suspects malpractice and asks Kavanagh to represent her.

3Season 3

S3.E3 ∙ Ancient History

Mon, Mar 17, 1997

A new law suspending the statute of limitations on war atrocities has Kavanagh prosecuting a Polish doctor who stands accused of war crimes.

4Season 3

S3.E4 ∙ Diplomatic Baggage

Mon, Mar 24, 1997

An influential government minister takes a great interest in Kavanagh's case of an ambassador's daughter accused of murdering a blackmailing tabloid journalist.

5Season 3

S3.E5 ∙ The Ties That Bind

Mon, Apr 7, 1997

Kavanagh agrees to take on a private prosecution against Ian Vincent who is believed to have beaten 17-year old Graham Foster to death for having stolen a briefcase from his car. Vincent's stepfather, Ron Baab, heads a crime family and tries to buy everyone off with both money and veiled threats. There is little solid evidence and the case relies primarily on Graham's girlfriend who has also been threatened. In Chambers meanwhile, Aldermarten is anxiously awaiting the results of his application to join an exclusive mens club in which Peter Foxcott is a member.

6Season 3

S3.E6 ∙ In God We Trust

Mon, Apr 14, 1997

Kavanagh goes to Florida to help former protégé Julie Piper, now married and pregnant in Florida, with a death penalty appeal with racial overtones.

1Season 4

S4.E1 ∙ Memento Mori

Tue, Mar 17, 1998

Recovering after LIzzie's death, Kavanagh moves to a new home and gets back to work with a novice lawyer on the case of a doctor accused of murdering his wife.

2Season 4

S4.E2 ∙ Care in the Community

Tue, Mar 24, 1998

Kavanagh and Peter travel to Kavanagh's hometown to defend a young unmarried couple on welfare from the murder of their young child.

3Season 4

S4.E3 ∙ Briefs Trooping Gaily

Tue, Mar 31, 1998

Kavanagh defends a battered wife who stabbed her husband to death and Jeremy when he is accused of professional misconduct.

4Season 4

S4.E4 ∙ Bearing Witness

Tue, Apr 7, 1998

Kavanagh's personal views and professional pride clash when his clerk Tom asks him to represent a former girlfriend Susannah Emmott. After they split she was briefly married to a Jehovah's Witness whose beliefs she took on before he became disillusioned and left her. She has a son, Luke, aged thirteen, whose father knows nothing of him and who needs a life-saving blood transfusion, which is against Susannah's religious beliefs. Jeremy gets himself involved with a group of tree-huggers out to save local woodlands.

5Season 4

S4.E5 ∙ Innocency of Life

Tue, Apr 14, 1998

When a young vicar is accused of seducing a grieving young widow. Kavanagh defends him, but suddenly charges are dropped and the couple become engaged.

6Season 4

S4.E6 ∙ Dead Reckoning

Tue, Apr 21, 1998

Kavanaugh prosecutes the owner of a capsized fishing trawler for negligent manslaughter even though his son is one of the five victims.