I WONDER whether Sir Robert greatly enjoyed the tribulations of
Mrs. Kirk last week. Searching for a topic to chill the hearts of viewers as morbidly as the BBC's Quatermass serial, Associated Rediffusion have lighted upon the Law. Last week's play For the Love of Pete presented the horrific drama of an elderly Scots widow, Mrs. Kirk, reduced to hysterical tears by the drubbing that she received from Judge and Counsel. Fortunately for intending litigants, the experiences of Mrs. Kirk bear no resemblance to the practice of English courts. Charwomen scrubbing offices are not given a heart attack by being served with a Notice of Motion in person at their place of work. Nor are interlocutory summonses heard in chambers in the Queen's Bench Division removed to open court in the Chancery Division. The entrance of the Judge into Court is not heralded by a staccato shout of 'Stand up' or followed by the brusque command 'Sit down'. Litigants in person are invariably treated with consideration by the Court; they are not barked at by the Judge nor ridiculed by Counsel. As a work of fantasy For the Love of Pete may rank high, for scarcely a single instance of its elaborate rigmarole of legal procedure corresponded with fact, but the entertainment value of watching an elderly woman browbeaten in Court no doubt appeals chiefly to those who regard laws such as the Television Act to be avoided rather than obeyed. ,
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