Harold Shipman: Doctor Death

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

This interesting and welcome TV drama/thriller charts the rise-and-fall of the titular Tameside GP,who is now regarded as quite possibly Britain's most excessive (and certainly most infamous) serial killer.Though only convicted of in-total murdering 15 (as if that weren't enough) of his elderly/middle-aged women patients,he is now suspected of murdering a great,great deal more,but due to the extreme amount of publicity the case has received,it is thought impossible to give him a fair trial.

The initial,most searing shock seems to come from those who knew and were patients of the 'good doctor',seemingly unable to believe or come to terms with how a man they put all their trust in could betray them in such an evil way.

James Bolam does a really good job of portraying Shipman.Before the murders ,he is seen as a kindly,well-to-do doctor,for whom doing regular home visits is seen as no skin off his nose whatsoever.But after the killings and as the investigation into them drags on,he develops a really more sinister side,callously informing relatives of deaths of their loved ones and being really difficult as he helps the police with their enquiries.James Hazeldine also does a really good turn as DI Stan Egerton,who's in charge of the investigation into Shipman.

The problem ,however,comes with the story.Hardly any insight is offered into possible reasons Shipman might have committed his evil crimes.For example,it's often been suggested seeing his mother die of cancer at the age of 17 might have played a huge part,but this is only mentioned in passing,rather than being delved into in any great detail ,say,maybe at the beginning.

Still,assumption's all it could be.This is a real-life story,and Shipman himself has never offered any explanations into his behaviour.This is not a standard TV murder mystery story,but a depiction of a real life event,and it should should be treated with more respect accordingly.***

I thought that James Bolam played the part of Dr Frederick Shipman very sensitively and he certainly did the best he could with what must have been a tough role.

The setting for the drama was very good and the scenes representing Christmas 1997 were very good. I think it caught the atmosphere of the whole thing very well.

The humour displayed by James Bolam was very authentic to the real Dr Shipman and the sense of theatre he displayed to some patients in his surgery was true to the real character which I guess must have been relatively easy for the actor to do as he is so familiar with playing in comedy.

I particularly liked the confrontations between Dr Shipman and the police as well as the interview scenes.

The high-light of James Bolam's acting in my opinion came when he broke down after being confronted with the computer evidence and we see him crying and clinging to his solicitor's legs. This was an excellent piece of acting.

2 hours was not long enough as there was so much that could have been covered and one got the feeling that it had been rushed a little, and maybe the programme makers had found it difficult to know just where to start.

I found it intriguing and sad as well. It made you think about the case and yes, maybe it did supply some understanding into how the tragedy came about.

I liked James Bolam in the series "New Tricks" where he played a cold case detective. In this movie he was a really evil doctor who had a way with words that fooled his patients. They trusted him and talked good about him.

Police investigated a suspicious death of one of his patients. Dr Shipman had a friend in the funeral business. He would sign a death certificate give it to the funeral home director and would get money from the director. When a patient dies everyone trusted the doctor and no one is investigated until a lady dies whose daughter was a lawyer and saw forged documents supposedly signed by her mother giving the doctor her estate. Most of the people that died under his care were cremated soon after.

After watching this I saw how liars lie and sound truthful. I saw how hard it is for police to get answers and this made it hard for prosecutors to get a criminal found guilty. I have more respect for the police after this. As I watched the police interrogate Dr Shipman they asked several questions that were crucial and Shipman had all the answers. The police did not threaten or raise their voice. After watching Shipman playing dumb I would not make a good cop. The police were very respectful.

DI Egerton played by James Hazeldine is so excellent in pursuing this case to get at the truth. He goes to speak to a pastor of the church. He believes Shipman killed a lot of people but does not know why. He talks it out with the pastor. DI Egerton is very professional he respects those police on the case questioning Dr Shipman. There were documents predated on Shipman's computer but the hard drive told the investigator the documents were created on the day his patients died not before like he predated their symptoms.

I think this is a great movie for those involved in law enforcement, investigating and gathering witnesses and knowing how to get info from their computers.

Excellent movie

I found this to be a pretty good movie based on a real serial killer. The movie shows the events of Harold Shipman on how he kills people with lethal doses and the motive on why he does it. James Bolam does a great job playing as Harold on how he portrayed the character as a cold blooded killer who doesn't show any remorse on what he doing to his victims. The other actors did a great job with their performance in the movie too. It also shows how the authorities slowly realize there's something strange going on with these series of deaths that happening around town and start to suspect Shipman.

Harold Shipman: Doctor Death is a pretty good crime movie.

A fantastic reenactment of the Shipman case. Portrayed wonderfully by everyone involved. A definite must watch if you like old British tv.