Trial by Fire

Originally telecast by the BBC in 1999, Trial by Fire served as the unofficial pilot film for the Helen West mystery series, based on the novels by Frances Fyfield. Moving from London to the supposed tranquility of the suburbs, prosecutor Helen West (Juliet Stevenson) and her police-chief boyfriend, Geoffrey Bailey (Jim Carter), don’t find very much peace and quiet. In fact, things are almost as bad as in the big city, what with spousal abuse, kleptomania, and murder running amok. Much against her will, Helen is drawn into the intrigues of her new murder — and by extension, so is Geoffrey, who totally disagrees with Helen’s deductions. Trial by Fire aired in the U.S. as an episode of the PBS Mystery! anthology on February 24, 2000; in the subsequent Helen West series, the roles of Helen and Geoffrey were respectively played by Amanda Burton and Conor Mullen., A veteran police inspector and a Crown prosecutor become involved in a complex murder case that tests their loyalty and reputations. Juliet Stevenson, Jim Carter., Helen West is a tenacious legal prosecutor who has moved to the suburbs outside London with her friend, Chief Inspector Geoffrey Bailey. When a woman’s decomposed body is found in the woods, Bailey thinks he has sewn up the case. But West believes it’s all too easy, and begins to dig deeper.