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Original poster

Mr Whicher

22 replies

ZillahWhoDrankTooMuchGin · 25/04/2011 22:24

Anyone else watching?

All i can say is ....anyone got any theories....???

nb: Haven't read the book obv....

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learningtofly · 25/04/2011 22:25

well even the book left me a bit [buconfused]

Original poster

ZillahWhoDrankTooMuchGin · 25/04/2011 22:27

Oh dear....

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learningtofly · 25/04/2011 22:28

ill be interested to see if they bring it to a conclusion ......

learningtofly · 25/04/2011 22:28

although the book was quite good and gripping!

Original poster

ZillahWhoDrankTooMuchGin · 25/04/2011 22:32

His assistant reminds me of Robert Webb as Hennimore...

OP posts:

learningtofly · 25/04/2011 22:33

Zillah I think it is robert webb :)

Original poster

ZillahWhoDrankTooMuchGin · 25/04/2011 22:35

I thought so too at first - but it is William Beck

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learningtofly · 25/04/2011 22:37

OMG they could be twins!!!!!!!! That is uncanny

Original poster

ZillahWhoDrankTooMuchGin · 25/04/2011 22:38

Totally....

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Original poster

ZillahWhoDrankTooMuchGin · 25/04/2011 22:57

I can't help but feel that, although the acting was great....it's 2 hours of my life i'll never see again.....

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learningtofly · 25/04/2011 23:01

tbh the book left many more questions unanswered that I cant remember now but I finished it thinking `who really did it????'

Unfortunately it was 100 years before Jessica Flecther appeared - now she would have had it solved in 60 mins

Original poster

ZillahWhoDrankTooMuchGin · 25/04/2011 23:02

OP posts:

JeffVadar · 26/04/2011 11:30

It was OK but it rather missed the point of the book, which was the significance of having working class police investigating a middle class family, and the consequent shift in the attitude of society towards the police in general.

She also came up with a pretty convincing theory that Constance took the blame and covered up for her brother, who did the murder IIRC.

The book was much better IMO, I don't really know why they bothered to make this to be honest.

queenceleste · 26/04/2011 11:47

Book really depressed me, the thought of a child killing a child in fairly cold blood, just horrific.

BooToYouToo · 26/04/2011 13:58

For once I actually preferred the TV adaptation to the book.

IIRC, the book had a lot of asides to explain procedure and attitudes of the time which rather slowed the narrative so on TV it was easier to follow.

Anyone know what happened to Foley, the police chief who covered up the discovery of the nightdress? Don't have my copy of the book any more. Would love to know that he was punished for effectively ruining Whicher's career but don't recall if that was the case.

I thought that Whicher turning on the father at Constance's aquittal was very powerful, blaming him for favouring his new family above the old and lying about his first wife's madness.

exoticfruits · 26/04/2011 14:07

I preferred the TV adaptation to the book-not something that I often say. I thought it very well done.
I think it would be very difficult to show some of the attitudes of questioning a middle class family. Those who found it interesting may go on to read the book.

JackieNo · 26/04/2011 14:12

Not sure if this is true, but I heard (or read?) somewhere that if this is successful they may turn it into a series - how would that work then?

Ooopsadaisy · 26/04/2011 14:15

One of those situations where I just shouldn't have watched it.

It's like watching a film after reading a book.

I didn't imagine the family that way at all.

JackieNo · 26/04/2011 15:24

I did keep expecting the father (Peter Capaldi) to break out into fluent swearing .

pawsnclaws · 26/04/2011 17:24

I preferred the book though it's been ages since I read it and I'd forgotten the suggestion that William might also have been involved.

Wasn't there the suggestion in the book that syphillis might have been passed from Kent to the first wife (leading to her early death and the deaths of several of their children) and then to the second wife too?

Incidentally the only shame of the TV version was that the characters within the family weren't fleshed out much - especially Mrs. Kent.

SagaciousCloud · 26/04/2011 20:35

God it was tedious wasn't it?

megapixels · 27/04/2011 21:10

I preferred the book. Even though there were a lot of other stuff going on too in the book.

The book never suggested that Constance took the blame for William, just that they were both accomplices to the murder. The evidence that she wasn't acting alone was that the blanket had been smoothed down after Saville had been taken out of his cot. And he was supposed to be a rather chubby and big boy for his age - so she was carrying a quite big four year old who was asleep and doing it carefully so that he doesn't awake (the nurse was asleep in that room), it would have been physically impossible for her to do it one-handed and bend down to smooth back the covers.

The other option would have been to come back after she had killed him and hidden the body, just for the purpose of smoothing down the blanket.

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