Character Arc
Cleo Roberts is the sharp, principled solicitor advocate handed the poisoned chalice of defending Talitha Campbell. Composed and exacting, she believes fiercely in the right to a fair defence even when her client seems intent on sabotaging it. From the outset she has to weigh her professional duty against a defendant who is impossible to like.
Over the series Cleo becomes the moral compass of the story, navigating courtroom strategy, a hostile press, and her own private doubts about what justice really means here. Her clashes with Talitha gradually shift from exasperation toward something more protective, as she sees the wounded person beneath the privilege. The case tests her ethics, her stamina, and her sense of where the line between advocate and accomplice lies.
As the trial intensifies, Cleo carries the weight of a system that often confuses guilt with unpopularity. She fights not just to win but to insist that the rules still matter, even for a client the whole country has already condemned. Her quiet conviction gives the drama its conscience and its most grounded emotional throughline.