David takes the stand and his, and another expert witness’ evidence, probably scored higher for the defence than the prosecution.

Radio Times: David takes the stand.

Characters: Adrian Manderson, Bert, David, Jolene, Phil, Professor Armstrong, Prosecution Barrister, Sid

• David is nervous – he’s giving evidence today. He’s a little snappish at Phil and Bert who are taking up the slack while he and Ruth are at the Court. We get a little topical insert as Phil and Bert discuss the current crisis over French beef, with Phil advocating the same standards for all.
• David’s giving evidence and, almost surprisingly as a prosecution witness, was given a harder time by the prosecution’s barrister, Miss Halford, than Tommy’s counsel. He pointed out that, when he disturbed them in the field of rape his first instinct was that of any farmer’s – to protect the crop. He thought he recognised Tommy’s voice – although the attackers were masked – and that maybe his aggression blew the situation up more than it might. His testimony was that Tommy was there, the violence was not entirely relevant.
• Sid and Jolene bumped into each other at the gym – which was closed, so they went for a drink and discussed the worries and strains of parenthood. Jamie, it seems, isn’t enjoying school, being a July baby he’s a youngster in the class and at that age, it makes all the difference.
• Next to take the stand is Professor Armstrong, a toxicologist, describing some of the safeguards and processes that protect the public from experiemental crops. He points out that much of the genetic modifications to the rape would never touch the public because they’d be filtered out before the rape oil made it near the market. He defended the safety committee’s work, citing previous examples of them forbidding other GM crops. The defence counsel was out for the kill though, questioning why widespread feeding trials were not conducted, where similiar tests would be on new drugs. The answer that they weren’t practical didn’t seem entirely satisfactory and we were left with the professor pleading that the decisions were being made given the wide experience of the experts, renowned authorities in their field, experts who wouldn’t approve of anything that wasn’t totally safe.