PETER HILL AND "ROUGH JUSTICE"


The ground-breaking BBC series "Rough Justice" was originated in 1980 by TV Producer Peter Hill - who has continued working on cases ever since. He picked up the work of an eminent British philanthropist Tom Sargant who was the Secretary of the reform. group called "Justice".

"Rough Justice" was a pioneering programme. It was awarded several prizes for outstanding journalism. It had secured the release of several persons unjustly convicted. More importantly, the programmes had served to change attitudes in British society about the system of justice. It was a major force in the beginning of the wave of investigations of miscarriage of justice cases on TV in the eighties that eventually secured the release of many innocent people.

Peter Hill was unjustly lambasted by the English Lord Chief Justice Lord Lane - who hoped to end all such investigations. By the end of the decade Lord Lane himself had been forced into retirement - and a new system for dealing with such cases was prepared. Hill had continued organising many events to help publicise miscarriages  - in particular the Tom Sargant Memorial Lectures which drew together leading thinkers on the subject.

Hill's work helped to form a base for the creation of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice,  and later, the Criminal Case Review Commission.

Peter Hill quit the "Rough Justice" programme in 1986 but continues to write articles and research cases. He continues to make films for this website.

"Rough Justice" has now ended. Miscarriage of justice cases on TV became commonplace and no longer get the massive audiences that "Rough Justice" got in the eighties. .