Judge Rinder

Judge Rinder
Genre	Court show
Presented by	Robert Rinder
Starring	Michelle Hassan
Voices of	Charles Foster
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	4[1]
No. of episodes	280[1]
Production
Running time	60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company(s)	ITV Studios
Release
Original network	ITV
Picture format	1080i 16:9 (HDTV)
Original release	11 August 2014 (2014-08-11) – present
Chronology
Related shows	Judge Judy Judge Rinder's Crime Stories

Judge Rinder is a British reality court show that has aired daily on ITV since 11 August 2014. It centres around criminal barrister Robert Rinder as the judge, who oversees a variety of civil cases, such as disputes over basic consumer issues, business/personal/neighbourhood disputes, and allegations of negligence.

Like other court shows, Judge Rinder acts as an arbitrator in a form of binding arbitration, not as an actual judge.^[2] In 2014 Rinder, who is a barrister at 2 Hare Court Chambers in London, told Legal Cheek that he was "adamant that we had to make it clear to viewers that I am in fact a practising criminal barrister and not a civil law judge." Participants are paid by the production company, which also pays out any damages awarded as a game-show prize, rather than taking them from the loser (hence, both sides emerge financially better off than they would from using a real court). Rinder claims that unlike other TV arbitrators such as Judge Judy who make judgements based on emotion, he makes his purely in accordance with real UK law, and hence the show is educational about real legal principles.

The hearings are conducted in a studio mock-up of a small claims courtroom. However, real English courts do not feature flags or gavels. The robes worn by Rinder are regular barristers' robes, minus wig, and resemble judicial robes worn by Deputy High Court judges. Part time judges in the Crown Court (called Recorders) also wear the same robes with wig. In reality, most small claim trials in England and Wales are conducted in District Judges' Chambers, with the parties seated throughout and no robes being worn at all.

The show shares the same format as other television court shows, such as Judge Judy and Judge Mathis.^[3] When filmed, each case takes around an hour or so to film and is thus subsequently edited down so that multiple cases (usually two or three) can be fitted into the given timeslot.

Rinder does not allow misconduct or disrespect in the courtroom, often firmly reprimanding litigants with what has become the show's virtual catchphrase, "Talking!". He allows the litigants three chances — or "strikes", as he calls them. If a litigant interrupts or acts out three times in the courtroom, they are escorted out by the court usher, a heavily built man named Ian, and the case continues in their absence. The bailiff of the show is Michelle Hassan, who escorts the litigants in and out of the courtroom, and during proceedings passes items of evidence (photographs, receipts, copies of text messages etc) between the litigants and Judge Rinder, as well as bringing a box of tissues or a glass of water to any litigant who should become distressed during the case. When the case is concluded, the litigants are escorted from the courtroom by Michelle to the lobby outside, where they talk to the camera about what they think about Judge Rinder's decision while Michelle and Ian stand in the background; on some occasions, Ian has to interpose himself between the litigants if one becomes aggressive towards the other.

Transmissions

References

External links

• Judge Rinder at the Internet Movie Database
• Judge Rinder at Biogs.com