Hot Bench

Explore the 1999 disappearance and murder of 18-year-old Baltimore County high school student Hae Min Lee, and the subsequent conviction of her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, a case brought to global attention by the hugely popular Serial podcast.

In Kuwait City, a determined defense lawyer defies popular sentiment and takes on a polarizing client: a footballer accused of murdering his wife.

A sickly man with a strong mind has spent most of his childhood in a hospital. He is involved in a case of "double jeopardy," the principle that one cannot be tried for the same crime twice following either a conviction or an acquittal.

Teen Michelle Carter’s actions shocked a nation — but what really happened behind closed doors?

The court system is corrupted and old-fashioned. People desire a new system that can satisfy the crowds. However, are the crowds always correct? The drama shows how judges discover the truth about people in court. It centers around a chief judge who doesn’t believe in justice, but only makes judgements that the crowds will be satisfied with. An assistant judge starts to question his motives and tries to find the truth.

Sędzia Anna Maria Wesołowska

The People's Court is an American arbitration-based reality court show currently presided over by retired Florida State Circuit Court Judge Marilyn Milian. Milian, the show's longest-reigning arbiter, handles small claims disputes in a simulated courtroom set. The People's Court is the first court show to use binding arbitration, introducing the format into the genre in 1981. The system has been duplicated by most of the show's successors in the judicial genre. Moreover, The People's Court is the first popular, long-running reality in the judicial genre. It was preceded only by a few short-lived realities in the genre; these short-lived predecessors were only loosely related to judicial proceedings, except for one: Parole took footage from real-life courtrooms holding legal proceedings. Prior to The People's Court, the vast majority of TV courtroom shows used actors, and recreated or fictional cases. Among examples of these types of court shows include Famous Jury Trials and Your Witness. The People's Court has had two contrasting lives. The show's first life was presided over solely by former Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Wapner. His tenure lasted from the show's debut on September 14, 1981, until May 21, 1993, when the show was cancelled due to low ratings. This left the show with a total of 2,484 ½-hour episodes and 12 seasons. The show was taped in Los Angeles during its first life. After being cancelled, reruns aired until September 9, 1994.

The first season of Sweden's Idol premiered in August 2004 and continued until its grand finale on 26 November. It is a spin off of Britain's Pop Idol.

Crime & Punishment is a 2002 reality television, nontraditional court show spin-off of the Law & Order franchise. It premiered on NBC on Sunday, June 16, 2002, and ran through the summers of 2002, 2003, and 2004.

Judge Cristina Pereyra adjudicates the most controversial cases and disputes.

This new series for RTÉ One reveals the hard work and imagination ordinary people have put into their gardens across the island. We’ve sought out the best amateur gardeners to celebrate the joy of transforming your own space. Each week three contestants will open their gates to our experts horticulturalist Jimi Blake, garden designer Niall Maxwell and landscape designer Ingrid Swan. The experts will take the tour, examining every leaf and sniff every flower, to evaluate the gardens. How the garden is laid out, how the planting has been done, and what features have been added, are all investigated. But we also want to know what the garden means to the owner. Maybe it’s a place of adventure for kids, perhaps it’s a special space for relaxation, or maybe it’s a fully functional extension of your home, for entertaining and dining. How the garden fits into and enhances your life is an important factor too.

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Judge Judy Sheindlin puts the American justice system on trial in a true crime high-stakes courtroom drama, as she and her expert legal team recreate the trials from notorious cases where following the letter of the law did not necessarily feel "just."

The U.S. justice system is explored through the perspective of Loredana Nesci, whose experience in law enforcement began as a police officer before she became a criminal defense attorney. Loredana has an unconventional and potent passion for discovering the truth and doing what she thinks is right by her clients. Her reputation is that of a cut-to-the-chase legal crusader who defends those who sorely need it -- not hardened criminals, just regular people who may have made bad choices and find themselves judged and condemned.

A gorgeous Yankee litigator and a charming southern attorney must hide their intense mutual attraction as a police sex scandal threatens to tear the city of Charleston, S.C. apart.  

The Pink Courtroom is a bold spoof of Judge Judy-style courtroom shows, packed with drama and jaw-dropping moments.

Each year, hopeful singers from all over the country audition to be part of one of the biggest shows in American television history. Who will become the new American Idol?

In this crime anthology series, viewers discover how an ordinary person got caught up in an extraordinary situation, ultimately revealing how one wrong turn leads to another, until it’s too late to turn back. Told from the defendant’s point of view, each episode opens in a courtroom on the accused without knowing their crime or how they ended up on trial.

Caso Cerrado, formerly Sala de Parejas, is a Spanish-language court show broadcast by Telemundo in which Cuban-born lawyer Ana María Polo arbitrates cases for volunteer participants.

Judge Judy is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by retired Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show features Sheindlin adjudicating real-life small claims disputes within a simulated courtroom set. All parties involved must sign contracts, agreeing to arbitration under Sheindlin. The series is in first-run syndication and distributed by CBS Television Distribution. Judge Judy, which premiered on September 16, 1996, reportedly revitalized the court show genre. Only two other arbitration-based reality court shows preceded it, The People's Court and Jones and Jury. Sheindlin has been credited with introducing the "tough" adjudicating approach into the judicial genre, which has led to several imitators. The two court shows that outnumber Judge Judy's seasons, The People's Court and Divorce Court, have both lasted via multiple lives of production and shifting arbiters, making Sheindlin's span as a television arbiter the longest.