Malice Aforethought

Excellent! And 25 or so years later after the BBC version this production is indeed excellent, but my thoughts do go back to the BBC version with Hywel Bennett back in 1979 with Judy Parfitt playing his overdosed wife which was so very dark. Bennett at the time had the looks to play any lead character, but the darkness of Bickleigh he portrayed with true style and strength. Ben Miller's excellent as ever, met him once as is Barbara Flynn who's consistently one of our best actresses and voice over artists in the UK, this is a great revival but I'd love to see the 1979 BBC version as well... Just think Bennett's portrayal was darker... At the time he was the man of the moment coming off the back of Dennis Potter's 'Pennies From Heaven' Peter Tilbury's excellent 'Shelly' and then in Le Carre's 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' as Ricki Tarr. He was the actor of that time. Please BBC release the 1979 version.

John, Manchester UK

From 2005, "Malice Aforethought" is another adaptation of the 1931 book by Anthony Berkeley, this one starring Ben Miller, Barbara Flynn, Lucy Brown, and Megan Dodds.

The story takes place in an English village between the wars and concerns one Dr. Edmund Bickleigh, married to an older woman, Julia (Barbara Flynn), who is an upper class, domineering snob. Edmund busies himself with doctoring, his art work, and an affair with Ivy (Lucy Brown), which the whole town seems to know about. When the flashy Madeleine (Megan Dobbs) moves into town, he becomes very interested in her. Anxious to marry her, he kills Julia over time by giving her a drug withdrawn from the market because it causes severe headaches, and helping the headaches with larger and larger amounts of morphine. When she dies, it's assumed from the injection sites that she was a morphine addict.

Things don't work out for dear Edmund as he planned, however. Madeleine, it turns out, despite the fancy house, is broke and needs to marry someone with money, which she does. Ivy marries William Chatford (Richard Armitage) and confesses her affair with Edmund to him. He therefore hates Edmund and has an axe to grind against him. Before long, suspicion has fallen on Edmund, and he is forced to take desperate measures.

Excellent story, and though I haven't read the book or seen the 1979 version, I liked it. I loved the production values, and Ben Miller made an attractive Edmund who tries to keep his cool in the face of some difficult questions.

Hywel Bennett played the role in 1979 and he has been described as "darker" - I'm sure his portrayal worked beautifully in that production. Here, I liked the fact that Miller didn't seem particularly menacing. Often narcissists or people out for themselves take the need to murder as a matter of course and feel it's a necessity, and that's how Miller played the role.

The rest of the cast was very good, and the ironic ending will be a cause for discussion if you're not aware of what happens.

I get the feeling this version was given a lighter touch than previously. Because the story is so good, I think it works fine. Supposedly it differs from the book in some key spots, including the doctor's relationship with his wife. Enjoy.

I binged both versions in a day and must say, the original has many aspects rendering it an endearing, warm, entertaining, funny production.

This version being shorter naturally misses out on scenes enabling viewers to dive into each character.

I highly recommend the original - yes this one was entertaining too... but the original had just this certain something making it much much better.

What a lovely, absorbing production. Bursting with period style supported by actors clearly enjoying the opportunity given to them. Ben Miller especially and intensely so.

Even the most grotesquely contrived modern TV soap story line would struggle to compete with this dark plot. Love, sex, greed, jealousy, murder most foul and to cap it off, a twist in the tail.

Most of all I enjoyed the pace. I dare say the whole thing could have been crammed into a Miss Marple style one hour afternoon TV filler but thankfully it wasn't. Three hours was timed to perfection. Enough time to absorb the period whilst the plot unfolds at a suitably measured pace.

Unlike some two part TV dramas, there's no padding. We don't experience the disappointment of a promising first part followed by a damp squid second.

A credit to all involved, especially it's producers.

I thought this was unusually good - there was enough irony, a sense that he story was presented a little tongue-in-cheek, that it was easy to suspend disbelief. Had the drama been entirely 'straight,' the fact that more or less all the characters were unsympathetic would have been annoying - one must care what happens in order to keep watching.

Instead, the very self-aware tone well complemented the fine acting and the later plot twists.

I am interested that the original novel dates from 1931 and is said to have been generically significant a) by exploring the psychology of a murderer and b) in that the identity of the murderer is known at the very beginning; the 'mystery' is therefore whether he gets away with it, and indeed, who else he intends to target.