ABSTRACT
We can make some instant observations on the two extracts in the epigraph. The fi ctional exchange from the popular British television and radio series, Little Britain, is markedly different from the real courtroom examination of a witness. Vicky Pollard behaves very differently from the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, in her responses to the lawyer’s opening turn. This deviation in the fi ctional text
creates dramatic tension and surprise for the audience, but also draws into sharp focus the norms of interaction for this genre: politeness, expected cooperation between the interlocutors in relation to known facts, and control by the legal professional over the organisation, distribution and length of speaking turns and the selection of topic. In this chapter we examine the fi ctional text from Little Britain alongside two extracts from a real courtroom, in relation to these and other issues, concentrating on discourse and text analytic theory that can inform our understanding and interpretation.
