Killian is a Judge in
the Court of Appeal. He is hesitatingly arrogant, morally unshakeable, and
bigoted in a disarmingly natural way. Every SitCom has one, don’t they? And
they always need an innocent but wise counterpart with whom they can interact.
To that end, Hilary.
Hilary is a High Court Judge. He is a man. He is an innocent soul, but is quietly confident in his own mannerisms. Whereas Killian knows he doesn’t like homosexuals but can’t really explain why (short of the truth, that he is scared of bottoms after he was sat on by a clown), Hilary would accept the gayness of others and immediately start wondering whether he was gay himself (“some of my girlfriends have been very hairy”). In short, he suffers from a complete lack of preconceived ideas. He would happily drive a Capri, because he doesn’t know of the stigma they carry.
Speaking of gay, the idea
that either Killian or Hilary might be gay – or even that there might be a
love interest between them – is skirted around repeatedly and with increasing
blatancy, although it probably won’t blossom.
Mary starts off in the series as a forceful, powerfully minded woman, who has a number of defining “comedy” quirks. However, she loses them rapidly. She is made passive and shapeless rapidly by life with the judges, and she slowly becomes aware of this. At times, it seems like she knows she is in a SitCom. Although she doesn’t step out of her character, she is aware that her character is dwindling fast. By episode four, she is reduced to sideline character who merely disapproves of the main action.
Her inadequacies are addressed in episode six.
Jools is in the House of Lords. Jools Porter is a kind of more coherent Father Jack. He does what he wants – and he does like women, booze, and bad language. However, he can communicate, and his curiosity leads him into situations that are more unusual than sexy or alcoholic.
He is utterly willing to try anything once, and is not offended, scared, or shocked by anything. He is often found in random situations and rarely plays a part in the plots of the other characters. Rather he is seen in the background.
He doesn’t really seek to make anything happen, but it does.