Newton’s Law

If you were looking to concoct a surefire drama recipe it might go something like this: legal setting for episodic plots, sympathetic female lead who is a gun at her job but struggling in her domestic life, unresolved sexual tension with male lead, quirky supporting characters featuring a reliable cast, series title with puns….

Newton’s Law is all of these and more.

I’m still trying to get my head around the conversation ABC had when pitched a new legal drama with Claudia Karvan.

“She’s a solicitor trying to keep her life together, but she risks it all for a return to the bar.”

ABC: “We already have Rake.”

“She’s tough but vulnerable, smart but flawed, and will overcome obstacles to win her cases.”

ABC: “We already have Janet King.”

“We couldn’t do any more Miss Fisher because Essie Davis is based in London and in demand.”

ABC: “Ok we’ll take it.”

It’s not that there is anything essentially bad about Newton’s Law, indeed Karvan and co-star Toby Schmitz are its best assets, but I had the decided feeling that I’ve seen it all before, albeit in other guises.

Karvan plays Josephine Newton, separated from her husband Callum (Brett Tucker), raising a teenage daughter, and struggling to make ends meet as a solicitor. Her team at Newton’s Legal, solicitor Helena (Georgina Naidu) and general go-to guy Johhny (Sean Keenan), are dependent on her both financially and emotionally.

But a case defending a pyromaniac goes belly-up and he torches her office, forcing Josephine to accept a job offer from an old University buddy, the eloquent, high-flying Lewis Hughes (Toby Schmitz), a Senior Counsel at Knox Chambers (Ed: no relation). The two have history with Josephine the only woman to have ever eluded his clutches…

The first case involves a former Knox Chambers associate accused of murder. But Eric Whitley QC (Andrew McFarlane) isn’t convinced she can pull it off. She’s going to need to dig deep to prove him wrong, which naturally requires her to work in tandem with Lewis, cue the sparks.

Elsewhere her former team of Helena and Johnny turn a car wash in the bottom of Knox Chambers into makeshift solicitor officers ….hence the odd ABC suggestion the series is the Upstairs, Downstairs of legal dramas -it so ain’t.

Karvan, who is always skilled with juggling dramatic and lighter storylines, gives her best with a pretty pedestrian script by writer Belinda Chayko. When she is working alongside the youthful gravitas of Schmitz, one could almost forgive the underwhelming set-up, the unconvincing Crown case, and a curiously light approach to a murder case. What a shame Josephine was denied the moral dilemmas  of defending a murderer. How do you sleep at night doing that -who knows?

There are quirky touches, including from supporting cast Jane Hall, Freya Stafford (and Miranda Tapsell to come), a 70s Charger and a surf-style soundtrack to endeavour to keep this in motion. Ironic given the series title….it still lacked energy for me.

Special mention goes to Barracuda actor Chris van Ingen for bringing authenticity and diverse casting to his role.

Watching Karvan on screen only made me miss The Time of Our Lives (or any number of assorted fine performances), but Newton’s Law, from Every Cloud Productions, has its work cut out in a crowded genre.

The problem is TV is offering us so many compelling binge dramas that you get one shot to grab our attention.

I just don’t have time for anything that drives down the middle of the road, even if it is in a 70s Charger.

Newton’s Law premieres 8:30pm Thursday on ABC.