Katherine Parkinson is set to star in new BBC Two comedy Defending the Guilty.

The new comedy, written by Kieron Quirke (Cuckoo) and directed by Jim Field Smith (The Wrong Mans), is based on the book ‘Defending The Guilty: Truth And Lies In The Criminal Courtroom’ by Alex McBride.

Will Sharpe (Flowers), plays Will Packham – an idealistic pupil barrister being shown the ropes by his cynical, worldly-wise pupilmaster Caroline, played by Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd, Humans). Mistakenly believing that his role is to serve justice, Will must navigate his way through a criminal justice system seemingly designed to be as opaque and confusing as possible…. while also dealing with his fellow pupils, each of them after the same single job at the end of their training and more than happy to stab each other in the back to get it. Can he succeed and hold on to his principles? Or will the system claim another victim?

Patrick Holland, Controller of BBC Two, says: “We only went along for a read through and ended up ordering a whole series! Such incisive writing, cutting humour and a brilliantly rendered world. I am delighted we are bringing Defending the Guilty to the audience on Two.”