The Brief (2004-2005) - Season 1 Episodes and Ratings

Henry defends a woman who is accused of drowning her boyfriend's two children by driving them into a lake. Even though she has pleaded guilty, Henry suspects that she is merely protecting her boyfriend. And the boyfriend, who is also being tried for this double murder, has an agenda of his own.

Henry finds himself accused of misconduct when he takes up the cause of a father convinced his daughter was raped and murdered at a party in the Far East, while an unexpected meeting with MP Gerry Graham puts a damper on his affair with the politician's wife - Polly.

Henry reluctantly agrees to prosecute a 12-year-old girl accused of murder, but underhand tactics by the devious defence barrister and doubts surrounding the innocence of his own child witnesses soon reveal the case is more complex than it first appeared. Meanwhile, the arrival of his son Zak from Australia threatens to throw his life into turmoil.

In the last programme of the series, Henry takes on the appeal of a convicted murderer involved in a bizarre sex triangle with his girlfriend and a younger man - a case which mirrors the barrister's own tangled love life, as his lover Polly finally leaves her husband. Meanwhile, Henry's father has information which brings him closer to Cleo in an unexpectedly personal way.