Beyond the Pale

Strong acting and an impressive atmosphere are the hallmarks of "Beyond the Pale," from the Mr. Whicher series.

In this episode, Whicher is hired by a government official (Nicholas Jones) whose son is being threatened. The son, Charles (John Heffernan) and his family lived in India for 12 years. He has seen the man who is after him, and he fears for his wife and children. His father asks Whicher to find the man - it all must be dealt with discreetly, as careers are at stake.

Good episode though somewhat easy to figure out. It's notable for the obvious racism toward people from India.

Paddy Considine is excellent as Mr. Whicher, and I liked the chemistry between him and his landlady (Nancy Carroll).

Too often "excellence" has been cheapened by corporate prostitution but this series, however brief, is monstrously entertaining and simply brilliant in it's subtlety and nuance. The out of control son is accurately presented in the historical context...my own family had such issues much of which is forgotten these days.

I am enjoying the detail and accuracy of the period research and the production qualities but the acting is superb...and makes me want to look into the other performances of the lead and the secondary characters. This has got to be the best 'series' I've seen for decades coming out of the UK.

This series makes me wish i could grow mean ass pork chops on my face like that. I guess they were all the rage. Top hats and mutton.

A much better than usual story with good acting from the primary actors. Although two movies of this series proceed this one, this is the first of the series we've watched. There is a reasonable consideration that is why there are some holes but they are minor. Whicher's character is already well developed as are some of the relationships he has with other primary characters.

Much of the film happens at night. The complaints about the low key lighting are without merit. 100 years or more ago our world after sun set was very dark compared to the over abundance of light we have now. The film accurately represents this. It augments and adds authenticity to the feel and mood of this film. Electric lighting did not exist nor did flashlights or other battery powered torches. I love the look of this film. It makes me feel as if I am there.

I accept the points that other reviewers have made about there being much less light indoors and at night in Victorian England than there is nowadays. I'm all for authenticity. But even allowing for this, most of the scenes were lit so darkly that it was very difficult to tell what was going on. This episode (unlike the other other ones in the series) took "moody and atmospheric and authentic" way too far. We had indoor or night-time scenes in episode 1.2 "The Murder in Angel Lane" (which I've just watched, so I can make a fair comparison), but they were nowhere near as dingy: it was at least possible to see what was happening and which characters were present. And how ever dark and gloomy Victorian interiors and night-times may have been, that does not explain why the day-time scenes were also very dark - unless they were set during a solar eclipse ;-)