Ruth was astonished upon her arrival early on Saturday morning, to find a bustling and animated scene.  College Lane, home to King’s Lynn magistrates court, was littered with cameras, lighting equipment, and tracks and was alive with crew members working frantically to ensure all was in place for filming to run smoothly. 

Real life lawyers arriving for the Saturday morning court sitting found themselves unexpectedly upstaged as the fictional lawyers arrived to start filming.

After entering the Court building and passing through the routine security checks, Miss Johnson was introduced to PeterKingdom (Stephen Fry) himself, who was chatting with crew and Court staff in the entrance.

She reports:  “ Mr Fry expressed surprise that I was required to attend Court at the weekend.

“I explained to him that the role of a Criminal Defence Solicitor extended to a Saturday morning.  Mr Fry was interested to hear that a defendant could appear before a Court on a Saturday and that legal representation would be available, if required.

“He acknowledged the ‘sterling work’ undertaken by solicitors.”

Mr Fry was amused to learn that Miss Johnson not only had a keen interest in performing arts but had graduated from the University of Liverpool as a drama major, before changing direction to the law. 

“Kingdom” is set in the fictional Norfolk town of Market Shipborough (a blend of Swaffham and Wells), where the adventures of rural solicitor PeterKingdom (Stephen Fry) and his assistant and protégé, Lyle (Karl Davies) continue.