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In Defence

British TV series

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ25183660 ↗
Source-derived summary

In Defence is a four-part British television legal drama series, created and partially written by Mike Cullen, that first broadcast on ITV on 26 June 2000. The series stars Ross Kemp and Sophie Okonedo, and follows Sam Lucas (Kemp), a lawyer and legal detective, who leaves his job at the CPS after exposing a police cover-up to work alongside his former lover, Bernie Kramer (Okonedo) at a private law firm.

The series was co-written by Maxwell Young and Abigail Fray, and was initially billed as a "star-vehicle" for Kemp, as part of a "golden handcuffs" deal to lure Kemp away from the BBC. The series broadcast weekly until 17 July 2000.

Production

In Defence was co-produced by Helen Gregory and Louise Mutter through Granada Television, and was one of a number of projects commissioned by the broadcaster as "star vehicles" for Ross Kemp.

Despite rumours that a second series was in the pipeline, no further episodes were produced, and in November 2000, the series was axed by ITV's then head-of-drama, Nick Elliott. A behind-the-scenes documentary, Best Defence, directed by filmmaker Peter Markham, was broadcast alongside the series, detailing the journey from commission to production, as well as interviews with the cast and behind the scenes footage from the set.

Broadcast

The first episode drew in just more than seven million viewers, although by the end of this series, figures had dropped to just 4.9 million. Poor ratings led to the series being axed by ITV, which in turn led to discussions regarding Kemp's contract with the broadcaster.

However, following the success of Without Motive, a fellow ITV stablemate which Kemp filmed concurrently alongside In Defence, his contract was renewed, with a second series of Without Motive commissioned.

The series has yet to be released on DVD, but was made available on streaming sites such as Prime Video, Britbox and Tubi in the US as of 2025.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “In Defence” as british TV series. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2000, 2025—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Defence, British and series can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as british TV series. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q25183660. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2000 and 2025.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “In Defence” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.