{"id":427233,"date":"2026-05-01T16:31:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T16:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/427233\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T16:31:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T16:31:17","slug":"bbc-confirms-audacious-and-totally-addictive-new-legal-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/427233\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC confirms “audacious” and “totally addictive” new legal drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

The BBC has announced a brand-new legal drama that has been described as “audacious”. Reputation focuses on a “formidable lawyer” called Elaine, who has built up a career defending free expression.<\/p>\n

However, she gets involved in the “case of the decade” when representing a global pop artist called Davina Knight. A libel battle ensues after the star releases a song accusing her ex-husband of abuse, and he retaliates.<\/p>\n

This leads to the case being “fought far beyond the courtroom, as PR machines are deployed, laws are bent and social media platforms become judge, jury and battleground – driving outrage for clicks and warping the truth”.<\/p>\n

\"anyaArturo Holmes\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Anya Reiss<\/p>\n

Related: Best streaming services<\/a><\/p>\n

“For Elaine, the case puts her own personal life in the line of fire,” the synopsis adds. “How far will she go to win and at what cost? And for Davina, how far will she go to protect her reputation?”<\/p>\n

The six-part BBC One show comes from playwright and Becoming Elizabeth creator Anya Reiss, who said she was inspired by London’s tendency to be at the centre of high-profile libel cases.<\/p>\n

“When I found out London was the global capital of high-stakes libel cases – where the rich, powerful and famous come to fight in public for their reputations – I was in,” she said. “I\u2019ve loved writing this world and now I\u2019m excited to get it off the page and onto the screen.”<\/p>\n

Executive producer and joint managing editor of producers The Forge, George Ormond, described Reiss’s scripts as “sharp, badly behaved, very funny and totally addictive”.<\/p>\n

Director of BBC Drama, Lindsay Salt, added: “Reputation is high-stakes, intoxicating and hugely entertaining, with a lot to say about the world. In Elaine and Davina, the brilliant Anya Reiss has created two lead characters for the ages.”<\/p>\n

Reputation will be directed by The End We Start From’s Mahalia Belo, while Reiss will write alongside House of the Dragon’s Shyam Popat and Screw’s Karla Crome.<\/p>\n

Casting details for the upcoming series are currently unknown. <\/p>\n

Reputation will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, with a premiere date yet to be confirmed.<\/p>\n

The new edition of Living Legends, a 100-page all-colour celebration of Sir David Attenborough, is here! Buy Sir David Attenborough in newsagents or online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies<\/a>, TV<\/a> and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME<\/a> and Screen International<\/a>. \u00a0Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings<\/a> to Love Is Blind<\/a>, and is equally in his element crossing every ‘t’ and dotting every ‘i’ as a sub-editor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BBC has announced a brand-new legal drama that has been described as “audacious”. Reputation focuses on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[131124,1105,186758,1107,93,61,60,184510,1135,186757,282],"class_list":["post-427233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-da8e8aa1-52bd-4aaa-aad1-95bd287b22c7","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-bbc-confirms-audacious-legal-drama-heres-what-we-know","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}