Court In the act.

I've got a confession to make. As an actor, I don't do research. I know that so many of us submerge ourselves in our roles before we start. It might well have been useful to have spent a couple of months working behind the counter of a cafe prior to filming The Full Monty a few years ago, but I rather hope I managed to perfect the preparation of the lettuce salad sandwich and my level of customer abuse without such thorough research. Twenty-six years ago or so, I played a hairdresser in the West End. The main thing I wanted to achieve was the lovely way they use their scissors balanced on the thumb and the third finger. I was dispatched to a hairdressing school for the afternoon and practised hopelessly to get my snipping action just right. I'm not sure that I ever did. On stage every night, I used to cover it up with some hasty combing, but what I did get right was the fact that my performance, outrageous and extravagant as it was, was nowhere near as flamboyant as the two hairdressers I'd worked with at the training school. I'm about to play a High Court judge in a television drama, so this week, I dispatched myself off to the Old Bailey to do a little bit of observation. After all, the only place I've ever seen High Court judges is on TV, and I don't want to use another person's recreation of a High Court judge. I want authenticity. The public galleries at the Old Bailey are free to visit. Make a mental note of them for your sightseeing list next time you're in London. Remember, justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done. However, beware: There is a long and fulsome list of things you may not take into the public gallery. This includes phones, large bags, and cameras. Indeed, there is a cafe near the public gallery entrance that does a thriving business of looking after people's belongings for a charge. I didn't take my phone on my first visit, and I felt a little adrift without it, but I waited for half an hour until the doors opened for the afternoon session. However, I was stopped. I was wearing a smartwatch. It wasn't connected to the internet, and it had no SIM card in it, but in some ways, that smartwatch will affect British justice. I was denied entry by a fearsome-looking security woman. She was quite sharp about it. I suspect it wasn’t the first time she’s denied entry to a man. However, I was not going to be defeated, so two days later, I set off for the morning session. I had no watch or phone, and although my hearing aids set the alarm off on the scanner, they didn't count as anti-judicial electronic devices. What nobody had told me, of course, is that in August, most of the judges go on holiday. While justice must be done, it's obviously not done during the summer months. Currently, several courts are being refurbished, and the only thing going on on Thursday morning was sentencing. A small party of us were admitted to the public gallery of an upstairs court to find it mainly empty. A pleasant-looking judge was sitting at the bench, tapping away on a laptop. The court usher was in position as was the clerk of the court. The only other thing in the room was a large TV screen on which the defence and prosecuting councils in full wigs and gowns and the accused in his cell were connected to the court by Zoom. As the councils gave their pro and cons arguments for sentencing, the judge tapped away with an adept keyboard skill that would not go amiss in the customer service department of British Airways. At the end of the hearing, he announced he would consider his thoughts, and the court would rise. We all stood, and the judge, carrying his laptop, left the court. We were also asked to leave the court for 10 minutes, and then we were allowed back in. The judge arrived clutching his laptop, from which he read a lengthy sentencing statement. Council responded, and then the judge rose again, evidently his business for the day having been completed by 10.45 a.m. Back to the sun lounger and the garden hose for him. So it seems that the best thing I could do to prepare for my upcoming role is to improve my keyboard skills and my ability to read off a computer screen. Forget the withering voice and the staring looks. Forget the banging of the gavel and the silencing of the court. It's all very low-key. Now, the week after, I'm playing somehting very different...and that's one I'd definetly like to research.