American Crime Story: OJ

The People v. O.J. Simpson turns a heavily televised criminal case into a drama about the people trying to argue it. The first American Crime Story instalment follows the prosecution and defence as legal decisions collide with celebrity, press attention and the public's very different views of the justice system.

Sarah Paulson's Marcia Clark and Courtney B. Vance's Johnnie Cochran give the courtroom arguments personality without making the case feel like a contest between neat fictional heroes and villains. Preparation matters as much as performance: what happens away from the jury helps explain what eventually reaches it.

The advantage of the limited-series format is time to follow competing strategies and the pressure on the participants. Even knowing the historical case does not remove the interest in how a decision is reached. It is a dramatisation, however, not a substitute for the court record.

For another legal drama concerned with how an institution changes the people caught inside it, The Night Of is a strong companion. This one has the additional fascination of watching a private tragedy become a public spectacle.