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The Most Subversive Thing You Can Give a Villain is Humour

by Dr Julia Shaw

Season two of Showtrial is an excellent example of how fiction can give us unique insights into why people do terrible things. How we rationalise hatred, attribute blame, and how our personally crafted realities can fuel violent crime.

I’m a criminal psychologist who co-hosts the BBC podcast Bad People. With my co-host, journalist Amber Haque, we try to understand, rather than judge, those whom society labels bad.
Dr Julia Shaw

I’m a criminal psychologist who co-hosts the BBC podcast Bad People. With my co-host, journalist Amber Haque, we try to understand, rather than judge, those whom society labels bad.

For the most recent episode, Amber and I interviewed Ben Richards, an acclaimed screenwriter known for gripping dramas like Spooks and Cobra. His latest series, Showtrial, season two, is a well-researched legal drama. The show follows the case of Justin Mitchell, a police officer accused of murdering a climate activist. This compelling drama forces us to confront ethical ambiguities and uncomfortable truths.

That being said, Richards doesn’t like a finger-wagging drama. “I can't stand dramas where you just know what the right thing to think is” Richards told us. “And then the dramatist tells you what the right thing to think is”.

But he does take us into a world of ethically intriguing characters. A lawyer defending someone who is widely hated. A climate activist who stops traffic on motorways. A conflicted police officer with his own version of justice, one that many people probably fantasise about.

On Post Climate Activists

On the surface, Showtrial is about climate activists; What kind of protest we deem appropriate, and the strong feelings they evoke. There is a question lurking throughout: Is it dangerous to villainise climate protestors? Does doing so bring out the worst in us?

''I'm really interested in that, the way that sort of class mediates things... particularly climate activists. The fact that they're posh, It's like a bad thing''
Ben Richards

In creating the climate activist in the series, Richards draws on his own experience with protest movements. He has even been directly involved, protesting in Chile during the military dictatorship.

When I asked him what he thinks of the portrayal of the climate activists as posh and out of touch, he said "I'm really interested in that, the way that sort of class mediates things... particularly climate activists. The fact that they're posh, It's like a bad thing that that's a reason to hate them and to mock them.”

This is important because research has also called this idea of the posh activist into question. Research from UCL wanted to understand who, in the UK becomes a climate activist. What are their demographic characteristics? In 2023 they published their, perhaps surprising, findings from a nationally representative sample: There is no typical profile. Climate activists come from all kinds of backgrounds, jobs, and varying levels of wealth.

How to Make People Bad

So, how do you write a “bad” character in fiction? According to Richards, “The most subversive thing you can do with a bad character is you make them funny”.

BBC
“The most subversive thing you can do with a bad character is you make them funny”
Ben Richards

Humour, in his view, doesn’t excuse a character’s actions but forces the audience to engage with them in a way that’s more intimate and unsettling. Justin, the police officer accused of committing a crime, is a character whose dark wit and charm make us uncomfortable because we’re drawn to him.

Throughout, Justin’s microfacial expressions; a slight raise of the eyebrow, a questioning glance, a smile that echoes a frown. All make us wonder whether he believes the things he says. Rather than being a character we love to hate. He makes us hate to love him.

His manner raises a bigger question in us. How certain are any of us in our moral views? Are you sure that your view of specific climate activists is the right one? Could anything sway your mind? If your mind did change, what would that say about you?

Richards pointed out that classic antiheroes, like Satan in Paradise Lost, captivate us not despite their moral failings, but because their charisma and complexity make us see something of ourselves in them.

His character’s moral ambiguity leaves us unsure where our sympathies should lie. For the police offer on trial in this series, Justin, he asks “Does he need to be bad in order to deserve punishment?”.

Listen to Bad People on BBC Sounds

To get more behind the scenes information about Showtrial Season Two and to hear our whole discussion with Ben Richards, listen to episode 114 of Bad People on BBC Sounds.

Showtrial Season Two is now available on BBC iPlayer.

Dr Julia Shaw is a criminal psychologist and the author of three books, including Making Evil: The science behind humanity’s dark side.