An Australian legal tv series from the producers of Phoenix, shown on the ABC in the mid-nineties.
Similar in tone and style to Phoenix, and featuring some of the same characters, Janus detailed the court proceedings involved in the prosecution of various members of a family of crooks, the Henneseys.
The series began with the trial of Mal and Steve Hennesey, for murdering a police officer during a bank robbery. The brothers get off on a technicality. We then cut to a year later, and Senior Sergeant Peter Faithful (one of the cops from Phoenix) is determined to see that the Hennesey's are arrested, and that they don't get off this time.
The first season is concerned for the most part with Steve Hennesey's trial for drug dealing, and the second season with Mal Hennesey's trial for a murder committed ten years earlier.
Unlike Phoenix, as well as part of the ongoing storyline being advanced each week, there were often shorter stories that were completed during the episode, detailing different aspects of the Victorian criminal justice system.
On paper, the series looks like a dry exploration of the criminal justice system, but excellent writing and compelling performances from Simon Westaway (himself a cop for ten years before his acting career took off) as Peter "Noddy" Faithful, Brett Swain as the borderline psychotic Mal Hennesey and Chris Haywood as the unethical defence barrister Michael Kidd.
In my opinion, the best legal series ever.