I was a court reporter (UK) for a long time. Spent many, many hours in court rooms and have sat through some seriously lengthy trials.

Mostly compared to TV it is very, very dull stuff even if the case is quite juicy. Long drawn out days with the same information being repeated over and over and over and over.

Also I would say 95% of the time it's pretty obvious what the outcome will be very early in the trial. There are NEVER big unexpected revelations and huge 'case breaking' moments in court.

The closest I have come to seeing something like that is someone on the stand getting their story confused and getting caught out.

Even then at best it's a mild frisson, a sort of collective 'well that was a fuck-up' feeling, that passes through the room with no real commotion - let alone the gasps and shouting and "ORDER ORDER" stuff that happens on TV.

That being said when you get a good case, say a murder trial where it is unclear what exactly has transpired, it can be pretty gripping stuff even from a cold uncomfortable press bench.