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Philly DA: Breaking The Law
Rating: 
Spying On The Royals
Rating: 
You can imagine Larry Krasner as the hero of an imported American political drama, along the lines of The West Wing.
He is an activist liberal lawyer who unexpectedly joined the heart of the Establishment after winning an election to become district attorney in one of the country's biggest cities.
Larry Krasner: even the name sounds right.
And there's a Hollywood-worthy back story too, because he is driven by childhood anger at the injustices faced by his disabled father.
Can he shake up the system? Can he defeat fierce opposition from the police and political rivals? And what was he thinking of with that ponytail he wore when younger?
Yet Philly DA: Breaking The Law (BBC4) is actually a documentary set in Philadelphia, which we are told is 'the most incarcerated big city' in the United States. Most incarcerated city? Truly we are two nations divided by a most mangulated common language.
Larry Krasner pictured celebrating alongside his wife Judge Lisa Millett Rau after being elected Philadelphia District Attorney in Philly DA: Breaking The Law
Larry is built up straight away as a great liberal hero of the people.
He has sued the police 75 times during his career, and has a bevy of adoring followers who love to chant anti-police slogans, moving the leader of the police union to observe: 'The bottom-feeders of the city are all gathered in one place.' This is an officer, a man of considerable bulk, that you definitely wouldn't care to meet down a dark alley while in possession of liberal views and a ponytail.
