It was just over a year ago (on 16 January 2020) that the UK government announced that TV cameras would be allowed to broadcast from Crown Courts in England and Wales for the first time, sweeping aside centuries of legal tradition.
At the time, it seemed revolutionary. The Crown Court (Recording and Broadcasting) Order 2020 would allow the broadcast of the sentencing remarks of High Court and Senior Circuit judges, in a move that was heralded as a landmark. Yet, just two months later, the UK was to be plunged into a national lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with all court proceedings swiftly suspended.
