To think the sixth commandment is so disturbing

I suppose for the victims families it tells their story and gives the case some media coverage. It means Peter will be more remembered. I couldn’t remember this at all and it wasn’t all that long ago.
It was glamorised, it was well created and accurate.

As I said, I doubt Ben Field would have wanted to have this made because it portrays him to be a cold killer. He’s now back in the media and people know what he’s done.

36 years is a long sentence, I wonder if this was to make an example of him? People killing older , vulnerable people for money or financial gain. Maybe a deterrent ?

No he wouldn't.
Neither would anyone else, although I believe both victims' families were consulted and were supportive of it going ahead.

I think there are more Bens out there than we think . As cold and calculating as him but not as evil . I think we will all encounter a Ben at some point in our lives especially in the workplace.

DH and I watched the whole series last week. I vaguely remembered reading about the case in the paper but this brought it to life in such a sensitive but harrowing fashion. What an evil individual Ben Field is. His comment that he thought he'd get away with most of it was staggering, and to read afterwards that only last month he submitted another appeal against his sentence shows what a sick person he is.

outstanding performances by all of the cast as well, and it was heartbreaking to see photos of the real Peter and Ann at the end. It was a drama that will stay in my mind for a long time.

I’m guessing not. He pleaded not guilty to
murder and has appealed his sentence, but lost I think.
Id imagine he wouldn’t haven wanted this program to have been made because lots of people hadn’t heard of this case and it shows Ben Field to be a callous, cold killer.

What an excellent drama. Spall is one of my favourite actors - I just find him so understated. I have a question: when making a programme like this, would the murderer, Ben, have had to agree to it being made?

Watched the documentary a few years ago and never forgot it.
It was brilliantly done and so thorough - showed the full exhuming of Peter 2 years later - even down to them trimming his hair for analysis.
Lots of his diary excerpts too as he wondered what on earth was happening to him.
He was so distraught that he was becoming a burden on Ben 😔

It was an incredibly hard watch.

This Dramatised version got it 100% spot on.

Agree with others that the Actor who played Evil Field was compelling.

I streamed it all last week and it's still on my mind now.

Field wasn't a 'curate' nor ordained in any way.

It's easy to put this down to Field being an exceptional psychopath, which he absolutely is. Absolute evil in every way, his poor parents as well as his victims.

But scamming the elderly is quite common. I watched a few episodes of Love or Money on iPlayer and in all cases it was lonely older often widowed people who were flattered a better-looking younger person came along offering companionship and love, and didn't ask any questions about why. It's tragic to watch as it's extremely obvious from the outside that these are not genuine relationships and the 'love' poured out in texts/emails is simply not real and just a ploy for money. Some in that programme have lost over £100,000 plus. They did seem remarkably accepting though that these 'out of their league' people suddenly fell for them, and it's interesting to think why as most of us might be highly sceptical, we think, at least.

In Field's case he is doubly evil because he lived with and pretended to love these people in real-life which takes a particular type of enjoyment in manipulation. But it's not unique that people cut off from the fact the 'mark' (victim) is a real person with feelings and just see them as a source of money.

I was scammed online and on the phone (in a double targetted approach) and that was the worst thing for me, that the person on the phone pretending to help me knew they were scamming me, as I panicked and cried (losing a huge amount of money) and they simply didn't care about me as a human at all. I did get the money all back but that feeling that some people are just bad humans is a horrible one, even a tiny taste of it.

The acting in this is superb, Timothy Spall is so believable and pulled me in... so terribly sad.

i wouldn't classify it as the insidious malevolence of the church. to me it's symptomatic of the passive smugness of the church. i'm always shocked by the number of Christians I meet who genuinely believe that non-Christians live by no moral code. i've also met afr more than I care to think about who say that were it not for the church, they;d have no moral code of their own. they are not independently interested in being good for its own sake. So without actively engaging their own critical thinking or moral judgement, they passively assume that anyone active in the church is by default a 'good' person and that lets them off the hook from assessing someone's character, actions, discrepancies.

When I heard that 'sermon' Field gave about the sixth commandment, I thought, how could the entire congregation not be petitioning the vicar afterwards to ask why this illogical, morally skewed person was preaching to them. That sermon was really off. Did no one notice?

I watched this all cast great and very well acted

i think it’s an interesting comment of the insidious malevolence of the church ….
a man who felt he deserved somebody
a woman’s life of duty meant she ended up with nobody
made them
so susceptible to these people

Also I’m curious about Martyn???
he was an odd character aswell

I thought it was an excellent programme, made with great respect for the victims. It's not an easy watch, but a very rewarding one if you like watching well-scripted, well-acted programmes that really make you think.

When I started watching I remembered the case. I found it very very upsetting to watch but, as others have said, the cast and the acting are just outstanding, it's very well made.

The Channel 4 documentary on the case is well worth a watch too. They show footage of Ben Field. Éanna Hardwicke did an excellent job portraying him.

It was excellent. The balance of episodes was spot on - I had to check after the first that there was going to be no more ‘live’ abuse of Peter, and no extensive flashbacks, as I would have found that unbearable. That feels right somehow- enough to make you really understand the horror, but not so much you switch off (well, at least some people don’t switch off).

A very difficult one to watch, but utterly brilliant acting in all roles, and a masterful portrayal of the victims as real, intelligent and interesting people, not doddery old victims, which speaks to the quality of the direction as well.

But the programme was brilliantly made and with superb acting.
I agree

Superb acting, superb script, superb directing. If this doesn't get a load of BAFTA awards I'll eat my hat!

I found it fascinating as well, but also difficult to watch.

As a doctor, it makes me wonder if we may have missed that sort of thing with our own patients in the past. It will certainly make me think in future

Tough watch but absolutely brilliant..

Me too. I was hooked. Watched the whole lot tonight.

There are only two TV dramas I’ve watched in the last few years that have really touched me, this was one.

It’s a Sin was the other.

I watched the documentary last year, thought I’d watch the dramatisation but stopped half way through first episode, I couldn’t cope with it. The man is pure evil and hope he never get out of prison.

Brilliant acting, made me cry. The thought of one of my elderly relatives being treated like that was heartbreaking.

Brilliantly acted but highly disturbing. We just watched the catching a killer detailing the investigation, very upsetting and I can’t help but hope someone gets to this psychopath monster inside