The Jury: Death on the Staircase really depends on if you like true crime

Jury duty is one of the cornerstones of our justice system but few people know what actually goes on.

While many people dread the receipt of a summons notice and will contrive every reason to get out of serving, there are those endlessly fascinated by the process of how a group of 12 strangers collectively decide someone’s fate.

There have been plenty of dramatisations including the classic 12 Angry Men with Henry Fonda, the recent Australian drama The Twelve, the not-quite-reality comedy Jury Duty (James Marsden and that toilet surprise!), the upcoming Clint Eastwood film Juror #2, and even that episode of Veronica Mars.

But you always suspect there’s a sprinkling of Hollywood magic and exaggeration in those stories. The Jury: Death on the Staircase aims to demystify what really happens — or as close an approximation as you can get.

Based on a British format, the documentary-esque series empanels a mock jury from what it claims to be a cross-section of Australians. There’s a sex therapist, a former prison guard, a funeral director, a logistics manager and a music graduate among the cohort.

In the real world, it’s difficult to have a representative jury given that potential members are exempt if they have certain professions, including medical and law enforcement professionals, child-caring commitments and other reasons.

A 2018 study in Victoria also found defence lawyers are twice as likely to pre-emptively challenge female jurors in criminal cases, and that juries in sexual assault cases are weighted towards men.

The Jury: Death on the Staircase’s mock jury is gathered to decide on a case that has already been judged — a NSW manslaughter trial in which the details such as names, dates and locations are changed and obscured but everything is drawn from actual transcripts and evidence of proceedings.

The accused is a man who is accused of being involved in the death of his older lover who is found battered at the bottom of a staircase in their home.

Everything is re-enacted by actors playing the roles of the accused, witnesses, lawyers, experts, cops and the judge and it is treated with the same gravity as a real case.

The series then follows the jury into their room and their deliberations with cameras placed inside but out of the way so they can behave and chat with minimal awareness they’re being filmed.

Immediately, the stronger personalities jump out, including a woman who declares to the camera – the participants do piece-to-camera commentary like a reality TV show – that sometimes people find her “too much”. She’s also definitely miffed when someone else nabs the foreperson duties.

This is why The Jury: Death on the Staircase feels like a hybrid reality-docuseries - the reality trope of the testimonials set to a jaunty score combined with the more sombre vibe of the re-enactments. Some of the captured conversations in the room are so mundane, it can come off as Big Brother: Jury Duty.

Some of the jurors have genuine emotional reactions to their involvement as the case proceeds but The Jury: Death on the Staircase comes with an important caveat.

If you’re a true crime tragic, with a gazillion podcasts queued up on your phone, this series is catnip. It’s a promising social experiment with intriguing insights into how humans bring their own life experiences to the deliberations, and how the dynamics of a group shift and stick given the personalities involved.

But if the genre is not your thing, the show can be slow-moving and dry, the minutiae of evidence challenging your ability to stay engaged. It’s like walking into any local court in Australia and being confronted with the painstaking tedium of legalese.

Depending on which camp you fall into, The Jury: Death on the Staircase is either a fascinating dive into the Australian justice system or an effective alternative to a sleeping tablet.

The Jury: Death on the Staircase is on SBS from Wednesday, November 6 with new episodes weekly