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Sir John Deed, a High Court judge, tries to seek real justice in the cases before him.

When judge John Deed takes the case of a man who has killed the driver responsible for his daughter's death, the high court judge gets personally involved in the situation.

Judge Deed presides over a case of three street gang members who are charged with murdering a rival drug dealer who was starting to sell *** on their turf. The accused have no respect for the court system, interrupt regularly and refuse to abide by the judge's instructions. When a key witness is killed and members of the jury are threatened, Deed is faced with a dilemma. The government is pushing the concept of trial by judge alone as a means of reducing the cost of the judicial system. All judges, including Deed, are strongly opposed as they see trial by jury as the cornerstone of the British justice system. As such, Deed very much wants to continue the trial with a jury. Jo Mills continues to struggle with the child welfare authorities in her attempts to adopt a former client's now orphaned son, Michael. She gets support from an unexpected quarter.

Gary Patterson walks into his local police station and confesses to the recent *** of a young woman. Gary is in his early 20's, but is developmentally disabled and has the mind of a thirteen year-old. He knew the girl quite well and was attracted to her, but his shyness and disability made him feel inadequate. Judge Deed feels the prosecution has a weak case and fumes when he learns that they have withheld evidence from the defence. On another front, Deed decides to investigate rumours that a fellow judge may be corrupt. He enlists his daughter Charlie to undertake some research but he is breaching etiquette by engaging in this type activity and is inviting the wrath of the Lord Chancellors Department and his fellow judges.

Roberto Romero is released after serving 8 years of a 12 year sentence and he has only one objective - to seek revenge on Judge Deed who he sees as the person primarily responsible for putting him behind bars. He harasses the judge and his daughter and even poisons his dog. The situation is all the more difficult as the judge's relations with the police have reached a low ebb given that he has refused bail to two police officers charged with beating a youth and with intimidating an eye witness. In other cases, Deed presides over the trial of a one time professional boxer who beat his best friend into a coma when he learns the man and his wife are having an affair and with two litigious brothers who have been in court for years and flatly refuse to resolve their dispute.

Jo Mills leads for the prosecution and Brian Cantwell for the defense when a British member of parliament, Alan Roxborough, is tried on a charge of attempting to *** his boyfriend with a frying pan. As usual, there is a conspiracy in the background to pervert the course of justice, which may be connected to Roxborough's opposition to certain British arms deals. Meanwhile, Deed goes into therapy and has a brief affair with his therapist.

Sir Ian Rochester is again out to get Judge Deed to resign, this time over his indiscretion with a claimant who had appeared before him. While his fellow judges review the case, Deed finds himself lecturing for two weeks at a seminar for prospective judges. Sitting as a recorder, Jo hears the case of an embezzler, Rufus Barron, who illegally acquired over four million pounds from his employer, Sir Tim Lisfield. When Jo seems to be giving too much leeway to the defense, she is threatened and Deed comes to her assistance. When there is evidence that some of the money was used to bribe a Cabinet Minister, the case takes a far more serious tone.

Jo Mills is prosecuting a case of a construction site manager and foreman who are charged with not taking proper precautions when a young 19 year old is killed in an accident on his first day on the job. The accused worked for Mike Briggs, a tyrannical managing director who had no time for health and safety issues and constantly pushed to get more work done. Deed agrees to take on the case and sets out to find a way to make sure the person truly responsible finds himself in the dock. He is up against government forces who think otherwise and who set out to discredit him.

Judge Deed begins hearing the case of Diana Hulsey, the mobile phone user who is suing her service provider for contributing to a brain tumor she has now developed. The CEO of the telecoms firm is outraged that her court action has gone this far and is pressuring the government and especially the Lord Chancellor's Department, to get Judge Deed under control. He also makes it quite clear that if they cannot do so, he is prepared to take matters into his own hands. When judge Deed finds that someone has put child pornography on his laptop computer, he knows who must be responsible but also realizes that it is exactly the kind of reputation-destroying information that could see him put off the Bench.

Sitting in the Family Division, Deed hears the case of a 15-year old who is refusing a heart transplant because of the use of animals in drug testing. He is only a few weeks away from his 16th birthday when he would have the final say but his parents, the mother in particular, desperately wants him to live. Deed finds the boy mature well beyond his years but as a parent himself, is torn by the choice he must make. In court, Deed presides over the case of two drug addicts who killed a young teenager to steal his newly-acquired mobile phone. Charlie Deed continues her political activism but her family must race to the hospital when they learn that a young woman fitting her description was seriously hurt at a protest. Once again, the Lord Chancellor's Department is out to get Deeds only this time they focus on Jo Mills accusing her of unethical conduct in her relationship with the Judge.

James Brooklands is charged with the death of a woman and her two children whom he struck with his car. Brooklands was using his mobile phone at the time and didn't have a valid driver's license. His barristers now argue that their client has had a complete mental breakdown and is unable to proceed with his defense. Sitting in the Civil Court, Deed finds himself hearing a case where Jo Mills and and his ex-wife Georgina Channing are the opposing barristers. The case involves a brain tumor patient who is suing her cellphone company. The government is very concerned at the effect this could have on industry and Deed finds himself under great pressure to recuse himself. Deed also finds himself having to deal with a new presiding judge, Monty Everard, with whom he has clashed in the past. Everard, he learns, will be presiding at Jo Mills' disciplinary hearing.

Dr. Helena Bellew is charged with *** in the care of an elderly cancer patient after his family learns that the doctor is to inherit the old man's estate. She is accused of administering an overdose of pain killers but the science is not clear cut on the issue. Judge Deed's handling of the case brings him again into conflict with Sir Ian Rochester and the Lord Chancellor's Department. In family court, Judge Deed hears the case of an HIV-positive woman who refuses to allow her child to be tested. The local council takes the child into care as a result. Deed's father is slowly dying and wants to tell him something important but lapses into a coma before he can do so. It's left to Deed's sister to tell him a family secret that affects him greatly.

Judge Deed presides over the *** trial of a prison inmate who killed a fellow prisoner. His defense is that the victim was a known pedophile and he killed him 'in the defense of others' a defense that is normally used in moments of dire emergency or threat. Jo Mills, for the defense, argues that there was a pressing need for the accused to act in the defense of other children that the victim might molest. In a separate case, Deed hears an argument from a woman who wishes to sue the town council for not providing enough information on her adopted son, a very violent teenager who not only raped her daughter, but also is currently before Judge Everard charged with raping his teacher. Jo's life is turned upside down when the adoption authorities advise her of an important change in Michael Hulsey's family situation.

Although Jo Mills has been absolved of any accusations of misconduct, Sir Ian Rochester and some of Deed's fellow judges now decide to marginalize both of them. Mills finds herself being taken off certain prosecutions and is subsequently informed by her head of Chambers that the Prosecution Service may drop her entirely. Deed is pressured into giving up the case of James Brooklands, the businessman who killed two young children and their mother with his car. Judge Everard takes on the case and sentences him to time served. A furious Judge Deed publicly accuses Everard and Rochester of misconduct. In court, Deed presides over the case of Jan Dobbs who has been charged with murdering her husband. Her husband was unstable and he had stopped taking his medication but the question is whether she and her son may have had an altogether different motive.

Judge John Deed has to judge a case concerning Jo's boyfriend, paedaetric consultant Marc Thompson. Marc wants to take the decision not to resuscitate a two-year old patient at his hospital who has a weak heart and is in a coma, if the child's heart stops again, but the parents disagree. In another case, Deed has to sentence a young thief, and the youth then dies in custody. All this brings back Deed's memories of his own traumatic childhood. He is spoiling for a fight and argues with Jo - who announces that she has decided to marry Marc. He then picks a fight with Neil Haughton at a dinner party and Sir Ian Rochester is still looking for ways to get rid of Deed.

Appearing before Judge Deed, Jo Mills, with Charlie Deed as her junior, defends Terry Rogers who has been on the run for 16 years. He escaped from custody before he could tried and is now a reformed man. Once a crackhead who regularly committed crimes to feed his *** habit, he is now a reformed man and a respected school teacher. At the center of the defence is the fact that two of the four policemen involved in the case have since been convicted of corrupt practices and served time in jail. In her private life, Jo Mills is still struggling with whether she will adopt Michael Hulsey a former client's now orphaned son. Deed recommends against it but Jo seems determined to proceed.

Three siblings - Ed, Darina and Wilfred Hay - are charged with hiring someone to *** their abusive father. Appearing before Judge Deed, Ed Hay, a solicitor, acts for himself and his brother and sister in spite of the Judge's recommendation that they seek counsel. In his personal life, Deed renews his relationship with Francesca Rochester, who has now left her husband. She seeks Deed's assistance in having an elderly aunt declared mentally unfit which would allow Francesca to save the publishing business. At the news that Deed is again seeing his wife, Sir Ian Rochester re-doubles his efforts to discredit him and remove him from the bench. Deed's daughter Charlie informs him that she is pregnant and wants a termination, something Deed is dead set against.

An Arab sheikh's chauffeur is charged with the *** of a young prostitute, thereby jeopardising a lucrative government deal.

An angry contestant in a Reality TV show (The TV Dungeon) kills another competitor on camera, and the show's producers face charges of manslaughter in Deed's court.

Judge Deed is presiding over two cases, both of which are particularly challenging. In the first, three men have been charged with drugging and raping a woman they met in a bar. Deed is particularly concerned at the defense counsel's aggressive tactics. In the second, he must sentence a wife beater who has pleaded guilty and where it is apparent that government authorities, including MI5, would like a light sentence. When the judge reviews the evidence - the accused beat his wife with a pipe and poured boiling water over her genitals - he insists on seeing justice done.

The powers that be continue in their efforts to have Judge Deed removed from the bench. All the more so now that he has suggested an inquiry into allegations made at his previous trial that the Home Secretary accepted a bribe from industrialist Sir Timothy Listfield. This is also tied to his current trial where a young couple, the Peacocks, are suing the owners of a nearby waste disposal plant. Mrs. Peacock has previously had a miscarriage and her daughter was born with severe physical deformities which they blame on the pollutants produced by the plant. Charlie Deed learns that both Listfield and the Home Secretary at one time served on the board of directors of a company linked to the case. Deed thinks his time may have come however when the Government refers his case to both Houses of Parliament seeking his impeachment.

With Jo's wedding approaching, Deed pleads with her to re-consider. In court he finds himself presiding over a pre-trial hearing where a mother is refusing to allow her daughter to receive the MMR (mumps, measles, rubella) vaccine on the grounds the multiple vaccine is unsafe. It doesn't help that her husband is the principal spokesperson and advocate for child immunization. Appearing before Mrs Justice Morag Hughes, Jo Mills makes an application of habeas corpus on behalf of Rose Hussein who was arrested by the police after she publicly accused the British Army of poisoning innocent Iraqis with weapons made of spent uranium. The government is concerned at the outcomes of both cases and try their best to inhibit Deed's freedom of action and to threaten Hughes with bad publicity over her affair with Hughes.

Deed presides over the case of a prison inmate who is charged with killing and cannibalizing his cell mate. Both the prosecution and the defense agree that a plea to manslaughter is appropriate but cannot agree to whether diminished capacity applies. Deed therefore wades into new areas, much to the dismay of the Home Secretary, when he decides to hear evidence to determine the facts of the case. Underlying it all is the behavior of the prison officers involved who knowingly placed the victim, a black man, in the same cell with a known and violent racist. Jo Mills is surprised when Marc Thompson re-appears with son Michael and announces they have re-located to London.

When a university research laboratory is bombed, Deed finds himself hearing a case of *** against Henry Free, a well-known animal rights activist who had been harassing the professor who was killed. Jo Mills declines to act for the defense given her deteriorating relationship with Deed but Charlie Deed finds herself acting as a junior with Simon Norwalk as her leader. When he is dismissed by Free, Charlie finds herself acting for the defense with the Attorney General prosecuting. The crown's case relies heavily on a witness whose identity cannot be revealed in the public interest. Charlie believes that the witness may have been an agent provocateur but her constant speech making and emotional approach in the courtroom puts her father in the position of perhaps having to report her to the Bar Association.

Judge Deed finds himself called for jury duty. He is excused in a case presided over by Monte Everard and where Jo Mills is acting for the defense. He is also excused from a particularly long trial on the request of the defense as he knows too many of the principals. He is finally accepted in the case of Olga Plachek, a nanny who is accused of *** in a baby shaking death. When the jury begins to deliberate, Deed finds himself in the minority wanting to look at the evidence while most would be happy to convict and go home. One man is particularly hateful and unforgiving. As Deed gets information on shaken babies, he learns some particularly negative information about Jo Mills' fiancé, Marc Thompson.