''Mortimer's Law'' is a British television

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

series, first broadcast on 6 February 1998, that ran for six episodes on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

. The series starred

Amanda Root Amanda Root (born 1963) is an English stage and screen actress and a former voice actress for children's programmes. Root is known for her starring role in the 1995 BBC film adaptation of Jane Austen's ''Persuasion'', her role in the British ...

as Rachel Mortimer, a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based barrister who finds herself relocating to rural

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

after her defence in a sexual assault case goes horrifically wrong. Taking up the post of Coroner, Mortimer finds herself investigating a series of gruesome cases alongside her loyal partner, Gwil Humpries (

Nicholas McGaughey Nicholas McGaughey is a Welsh television actor and voice actor best known for playing the character of Brandon Monk in the Welsh soap ''Pobol y Cwm''. He has appeared on a number of top English television programmes such as ''Casualty'' in 1998. H ...

). Initially broadcast at 21:30 on Fridays, a single series was broadcast before being axed by the network. The series was a co-production between Chatsworth television and

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is ...

. Root said of her role in the series; "When researching the role, I listened to some tapes from a Coroner's Officer where they were trying to establish if someone who had died under the wheels of a train had committed suicide. There was an interview with the train driver, who had to give all the facts about what he saw in the last moments before the train hit this man - how he had run on to the line, how he had braced himself. I will never forget those images. I also went to see a woman coroner in Southwark who was fantastic. She was very centred and self-controlled. She organised her court quite brilliantly, and she was formidable in the best sense of the word."

Cast

as Coroner Rachel Mortimer *

as DC Gwil Humphries * Gwenyth Petty as Mrs. Morgan * Shirley King as Sioned *

Clive Merrison Clive Merrison (born 15 September 1945) is a British actor of film, television, stage and radio. He trained at Rose Bruford College. He is best known for his long running BBC Radio portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, having played the part in all 64 ...

as Tegwyh * Louise Breckon-Richards as Angela *

Valentine Pelka Valentine Pelka (born 23 February 1956) is an English actor who has starred in film and on television. Biography Pelka was born in Dewsbury, West Riding of Yorkshire, to a Polish civil engineer father and an Irish actress mother, and attended ...

as John Keswick * Robert Blythe as Bernard *

Gillian Elisa Gillian Elizabeth Thomas (born 10 August 1953) is a Welsh actress, singer, and comedian. Early in her career she was known as Gillian Elisa Thomas. Early life and education Elisa was born in Carmarthen, Wales, and brought up in Lampeter; she beg ...

as Jane Harris *

Helen Griffin Helen Griffin (1958 – 29 June 2018) was a Welsh actress, playwright and screenwriter. Born in Swansea, Wales, she appeared regularly in Welsh theatre and television and wrote and starred in the 2005 film ''Little White Lies''. She also appear ...

as Mrs. Watkins *

Margaret John Margaret John (14 December 1926 – 2 February 2011) was a Welsh, BAFTA award-winning actress, known for her role as Doris O'Neill in ''Gavin & Stacey''. Early life Born in Swansea, as a child she wanted to be a nurse or vet, but she could ...

as Megan Jeffries *

Ieuan Rhys Ieuan Rhys (born 24 December 1961) is a Welsh actor. His television work has included thirteen years in the BBC Cymru soap opera ''Pobol y Cwm'', Seargent Tom Swann in the last series of ''A Mind to Kill'' (for Fiction Factory/ Channel 5) and s ...

as Sergeant Price * Dorien Thomas as Batty

Episodes

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0144725, title=Mortimer's Law 1998 British television series debuts 1998 British television series endings 1990s British crime television series 1990s British drama television series BBC television dramas 1990s British television miniseries English-language television shows Television shows set in Wales