BBC2 jumped on the Jeffery Archer come-back wagon last night when it launched The Verdict in which the disgraced peer and 11 other random celebrities became the jury in a mock rape case.
The show received a lot of coverage before its broadcast - most of it negative - while the reviewers this morning were pretty mixed in their response to it.
The most widely used headline (and the most obvious to boot) was "the jury's still out."
Matt Baylis in the Daily Express said: "We could all probably think of things we'd rather be doing than watching The Verdict. Performing a gall-bladder operation on oneself, for example. Or reading Patrick Kielty's autobiography. Drinking oil, maybe?" Ouch.
The other reviewers were more positive.
The Guardian's Nancy Banks-Smith said: "The Verdict...is reality TV with a touch of class and should be very popular."
Thomas Sutcliffe in The Independent said: "With another three episodes to go, it's a little too early to say whether The Verdict is innocent of the charges of sensationalism and celebrity exploitation that have already been laid against it, but I suspect the defence team will be feeling quietly confident."
While James Walton in The Daily Telegraph called it a "very peculiar programme indeed...The sense of tackiness never goes away - but at the same time there's no denying that it's often a gripping watch."
The show launched on BBC2 last night and will continue tonight, tomorrow and conclude on Thursday.
