Episode 6 - The Sins Of The Father


‘250 grand a year. For that money, we could put him through Eton in his own private yacht and still get a chunk of change. But what do we get if we send him to prison?’

Dunbar is forced to take responsibility for his self-harming teenage daughter. Gulliver tries to garner sympathy for a drug-dealer with AIDS.

One of Dunbar’s teenage clients, William, goes on a crack-fuelled rampage and demands Dunbar’s presence before he will talk to the police. Terrified, Dunbar manages to calm him down and then has to act as his defence solicitor. He threatens to defend William really badly as a punishment.

Meanwhile, Gulliver asks Sarah for clemency for a drug-dealer with AIDS. She’s unsympathetic – why should that let him off – but the judge is lenient when it’s revealed in court. However, just as Gulliver is enjoying the victory the dealer is arrested for wounding – he’s only just revealed the AIDS to his girlfriend and she’s reported him.

Dunbar is also in trouble with his ex-wife and her new partner, Superintendent Jackson. Dunbar’s behind on his maintenance payments for their teenage daughter, Laura. She’s been threatening to self-harm unless Dunbar gives her a horse. Dunbar doesn’t take the threats seriously, but is shocked when she’s rushed into hospital after a minor over-dose. He’s dragged into a session with Laura and her shrink. A chip off the old block, Laura gives him short shrift for being a useless dad.

Dunbar’s conscience is pricked and as a result he is determined to defend William to the best of his ability. In a tour de force speech, Dunbar explains in court that William’s never had a father around, and has reading and drugs problems. Sending him to prison would waste millions of tax-payers money, fuel his drugs habit and guarantee he’ll come out and re-offend. The DJ is suitably impressed. Dunbar shrugs off the good deed as lawyer’s guff, but in our eyes he seems to have redeemed himself.