Joyce Davenport

Joyce Davenport is the public defender at Hill Street's precinct, a sharp, composed advocate who spends her days arguing for the same suspects the cops just hauled in. She's unimpressed by badges and unwilling to soften her case for anyone's convenience, including Captain Frank Furillo, whose bed she happens to share.

The show could have made her a soft counterpoint to the cops; instead it gives her real teeth, a lawyer whose professional convictions collide with her personal life without either side winning. Veronica Hamel plays that friction with cool, unbothered precision, turning courtroom sparring and pillow talk into the same demonstration of nerve.