Where a jury at a first defamation trial finds an imputation true, that finding binds the plaintiff by issue estoppel at any subsequent new trial on a different imputation from the same publication, and is admissible on the plaintiff's credit. A plaintiff who asserts the falsity of an imputation found true at the first trial entitles the defendant to establish its truth regardless of the pleadings. Allegations of malice based on the manner of editing or presentation of a programme must be specifically particularised, and a plaintiff who raises such an allegation for the first time after evidence is closed and after the defendant's address bears an enormous burden of demonstrating no unfair prejudice.
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