Despite the dominance of legal themes in popular culture, judges do not always make an appearance, and when they do, tend to be secondary and/or caricatures. Despite (or even because of) their relative absence and unimportance in popular culture, the portrayal of judges still gives insight into assumptions and values about the relationship of judges to the law and justice. This chapter explores two key themes in the portrayal of judges in the contemporary Australian television series such as Rake and Janet King and the classic Australian series SeaChange. The first is the portrayal of judges as marginal or secondary characters and the second is the desire expressed by characters for a ‘good judge’. Drawing upon the insights of the jurisprudence of American realists, this chapter interrogates the concept of a good judge in terms of authority, legitimacy and the relationship with law. How is the concept of the good (and of course the bad) constructed? There is also an interrelationship between the two themes: despite the desire for the good judge, the secondary role of judges in popular culture often reflects the tendency to regard the role of judges as primarily objective representatives of the institution of the court and law rather than as individuals.

The relationship between judges and the media has changed. While the hearings and decisions of courts have long been the subject of intense media scrutiny, there was a time when this focus was not usually directed to judges in a personal sense. Judges did not engage with the media in a direct sense. Judges were also discouraged from direct or close contact with the media by many legal principles and professional conventions. The media now treats judges differently, often commenting as much about judges as the cases they decide.Much of the media commentary about judges and their decisions is unfair and inaccurate. As the media has grown more willing to criticise judges and their work, attorneys-general and other politicians have become more reluctant to speak on behalf of judges and the courts. These changes have seen the decline of many of the professional norms that discourage judges from responding to the media but the extent to which judges can or should respond to, or deal with, the media are hampered by the unique nature of the judicial function.