The Life and Loves of a She-Devil

Words can not express what a truly amazing work of art this series is the acting is amazing it is british drama at its best. Patricia Hodge is perfect as Mary Fisher the beautiful novelist and you have to watch it to believe how truly disgusting julie t wallace is as scorned wife ruth. Add in the wonderful Dennis Waterman and a supporting role from miriam margolles as a lesbian nurse and tom baker as a lecherous priest and you know your in for some comedy. It is one of the first productions that have stayed close to the original novel. The best part is the ending which is very dramatic and not a soppy romantic ending a truly twisted programme just sit back and enjoy. PLEASE BRING IT OUT ON VIDEO / DVD DON'T HIDE IT AWAY

It has been years since I have seen this series, but it has stayed permanently embedded in my mind. Everything that poor Ruth went through and then to see her revenge acted out was perfect. One of the few movies I have seen that does not diminish the quality of the book. 10/10

PS - The movie with Rosanne and Meryl Streep (She-Devil) fails miserably in capturing even a bit of the excellence of this series.

This was novel writing at its best and became TV at its best. I knew Phillip Saville, the director, and this was his best but the hard centre of sheer quality came from Fay Weldon, a friend then and still a friend. She is a really nice woman but deploys a brilliant venom in the interests of her art. She is currently (July 2001) writing her autobiography and it will be interesting to see how closely she admits to connections to her then husband Ron's behaviour.

I saw this series eleven years ago on the A&E network and was absolutely enthralled. One of the best parts is when Ruth frees Mary's hilariously senile mother from a retirement home and releases her on Mary's beautiful world. In an age when every irritating, mindless piece of you-know-what is released on tape and DVD, it astounds me that this masterpiece remains mysteriously shelved somewhere.

I would argue that this work ranks as one of the best made-for-television mini-series ever; its just a stunner, and great great fun. And definitely made for adults! The fatal flaw in the story is that it ultimately makes absolutely no sense for the strong-willed and capable lead character to be in such relentless pursuit to repossess an ex-spouse who clearly isn't worth anything, but its a wild ride while it lasts. I am so happy that I taped it :)