George Lefferts' strong teleplay is based on some 10,000 pages of transcripts of the testimony of the sensational 1980 trial of cool, intellectual headmistress Jean Harris who was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for the murder of her 67-year-old cardiologist lover Herman Tarnower, author of the successful `Scarsdale Diet'. Ellen Burstyn as Harris gives a fine performance, well supported by Martin Balsam as her defence attorney, Richard Dysart as the judge and Peter Coyote (best remembered for his appearance in E. T. ) as the assistant District Attorney. The direction is by eight-time Emmy Award winner George Schaefer.

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