# Accused (2010)

> A BBC anthology drama in which ten self-contained hours follow ordinary people who find themselves accused of crimes they may or may not have committed.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/30313

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 10
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, crime
- Created by: Jimmy McGovern
- Network: BBC One
- Cast: Stephen Graham, Ben Smith, Neve McIntosh, Marc Warren, Bronagh Gallagher, Mackenzie Crook, Jodie Whittaker, Andrea Lowe
- TMDB rating: 7.9/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1769411/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: harrowing, sober, humane, tense, bleak

## What critics say

Audiences rate the anthology positively, valuing its grounded, emotionally charged accounts of ordinary people facing criminal accusations.

## Synopsis

Accused (2010-2012) is a British anthology crime drama created by Jimmy McGovern for BBC One. Across two seasons and ten hour-long episodes, each self-contained story follows a different ordinary person who finds themselves accused of a crime, with a fresh cast playing out the pressure of suspicion, police interviews, courtroom tension and the fracturing of family and work lives. Stephen Graham, Jodie Whittaker and Mackenzie Crook are among the actors who appear in individual stories, and no single character carries the whole run. The engine of each hour is the gap between what the accused did and what the system believes, with the emotional weight falling on the people left to live with the verdict. Its tone is sober, humane and often harrowing, with a social realist eye on working-class Britain. Viewers who appreciate the moral seriousness of Cracker and the self-contained case structure of Law & Order will find resonance here, as will fans of anthology dramas that treat their stories as sharp social studies rather than puzzles.

## Shows like Accused

- [Showtrial (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/113688)
- [You Don't Know Me (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/115400)
- [Criminal Justice (2008)](https://ember.film/tv/6942)
- [The Missing (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/54870)
- [The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/64042)
- [The Ice Cream Girls (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/60561)
- [Silk (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/34735)
- [The Escape Artist (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/42303)
- [Liar (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/63999)
- [Criminal Record (2024)](https://ember.film/tv/127316)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt