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Mrs Wilson

148 replies

unique1986 · 15/11/2018 11:39

Mrs Wilson starts 9pm on Tuesday 27th November on BBC One.

OP posts:
ViragoKnows · 05/12/2018 21:03

@CharltonLido73

You could report the post you’re quoting and your own and ask for them to be edited or removed?

WindinTheWillowsLover · 05/12/2018 22:36

Oh come on- I don't think spoilers apply to factual programmes? It was discussed in the Radio Times, before it had even run the first episode. If you're interested, it's on various site online because it's fact, not fiction.

Does it really make that much difference to know how many wives there were?

noodlenosefraggle · 05/12/2018 22:43

I'm really enjoying this. Agree about Ruth Wilson and Keeley Hawes, Top class. Is Nigel Ruth Wilson father? He seems to have been written more sympathetically than Gordon. Re the scene with the boys and their mother, they probably think she's in on the whole thing. She's lying to them, but they don't know that their father has lied to her in such a huge way and why she's lying to them.

BitOfFun · 05/12/2018 22:58

I'm loving this. Can you IMAGINE the mumsnet post she could write? Grin

CharltonLido73 · 06/12/2018 08:37

Does it really make that much difference to know how many wives there were?

I think it does. I had no idea where the final episode would be going, and was looking forward to finding out.

I was under the impression that spoilers were an automatic no-no on TV discussion threads.

BreakfastAtSquiffanys · 06/12/2018 08:40

It's based on true events but there are significant differences between truth (as far as his family know) and the TV drama.
Alison never knew about Dorothy, her family found out after her death

BreakfastAtSquiffanys · 06/12/2018 08:47

I'm really enjoying this.
I wonder what happened during the 20 years between the early scenes of Alec and Alison and his death. Her character has become very brittle, it's clear that Alec was Fun Dad and she was Strict Mum. It's great writing to make Alison a slightly unsympathetic character.

Notonthestairs · 06/12/2018 09:54

I don't really think it's about the number of wives - whether it's 4/5/6. It's about whether it's ever justifiable in the interests of the greater good weighed up against the massive ramifications for the women and children involved.

I thought the scene with Keeley Hawes and Ruth Wilson was brilliant. And afterwards when she met Dorothy's son and for a second I thought it would all spill out.

I'm looking forward to next weeks episode.

Ps random bit of trivia - wives of US GI's in WW2 were given a monthly payment (an allotment) when their husbands went to war. They would also receive 10,000 dollars in the event that her husband was killed in action. After the war it was discovered that some women had married multiple times. They were known as Allotment Annies. One woman was prosecuted when one husband met another and after they compared sweetheart pictures they realised they were married to the same woman. It was discovered that she'd married 6 different sailors! One woman was found to have married 7 times ( married 2 men in one day so really couldn't have assumed one was dead). She blamed it on alcohol!

WindinTheWillowsLover · 06/12/2018 10:28

@CharltonLido73
I don't see how you can say that something that is historical fact is the same as a 'thriller' for example, (which is a work of fiction.) and that ' spoilers' apply.

If for example, you watched a programme on Henry V111 and his wives, would you accuse someone of 'spoilers' if they mentioned (before the series had ended) that he had 5 other wives?

Once I knew this series was on TV I was genuinely interested in reading about it. This is the Radio Times www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-12-05/what-is-the-real-life-story-behind-ruth-wilsons-new-bbc-drama-mrs-wilson/

I don't see whether he had 2 wives or 22 makes any difference. Each woman- whether 1 or 21 - was duped by him.

IMO it throws up really interesting discussions around how and why an intelligent man would do this, were the marriages part of the 'deal' with the security services, to keep him off the radar, or create some cover, why did he go to the lengths he did to deceive people?

It's about human nature, decisions made perhaps to protect our security and a whole lot more.

If you care to read the RT piece, you'll see that even now- 70 years on- the security services still won't reveal some facts about his work or his life (hence no answers for us yet over why he did what he did.)

I can't see in all honesty why you are miffed or bothered about yet another wife in the background. It's been pretty clear all along anyway that there were plenty more skeletons in the cupboard.

It's not a 'thriller' - it's a real life, historical account.

longwayoff · 06/12/2018 10:44

Its very interesting, particularly with reference to the recent revelations about undercover policing in the 1970s-80s and the dubious practices employed. No bigamous marriages so far as I know but not so different. Plus ca change . . .

BreakfastAtSquiffanys · 06/12/2018 16:58

"it's a real life, historical account*
No, it's a" dramatisation" based on true events with a lot of changes for simplicity and dramatic effect.

CharltonLido73 · 06/12/2018 18:36

I can't see in all honesty why you are miffed or bothered about yet another wife in the background. It's been pretty clear all along anyway that there were plenty more skeletons in the cupboard.

I would just like to have had the chance to discover them for myself in the final episode next week, without having that spoiled on here a week in advance. Not to much to ask, really.

I'll happily read the RT piece once I've seen the final episode. Your choice to read up in advance, but bear in mind that others may not wish to know outcomes in advance.

WindinTheWillowsLover · 06/12/2018 20:17

I'm amazed that knowing he has one other wife - who probably won't feature much at all- is making you so unhappy. It's not really important. Personally, I feel trying to fathom out why he behaved as he did is far more interesting than the number of wives. He may have even had more , who we know nothing of.

And yes, it is a dramatisation, and yes, some things are omitted, but in essence, it's based on real life. It's hardly a gripping thriller where one more wife is going to be an important factor.

WindinTheWillowsLover · 06/12/2018 20:18

I'll happily read the RT piece once I've seen the final episode. Your choice to read up in advance, but bear in mind that others may not wish to know outcomes in advance.

You do realise the RT piece was published some time ago? maybe complain to them about 'spoiling it' for the audience!

Snugglepiggy · 06/12/2018 21:11

One query.When Alison walks away from Dorothy's house and meets Michael his other son he says it's good to meet someone who knew his father,and that he only felt be knew him through reading his books.If he has grown up believing his father died in 1942 then do we presume he had no more books published after that year ?And yet the implication is that he continued writing well after the war years and whilst he and Alison were raising their two boys.Or am I missing something ?

glamorousgrandmother · 06/12/2018 21:20

Maybe Dorothy told him they were published posthumously. He was an adult, though, he would have been able to find his other books and I would have thought there might have been reviews in the papers etc. which would mention he was still alive.

Snugglepiggy · 06/12/2018 21:36

That's what I was thinking.A published author is not quite as anonymous as someone with an ordinary job,an even in pre-internet and widespread media days any further books coming out would attract publicity.Maybe the next episode will give more flashbacks to his years with Alison.And maybe he wrote but later efforts went unpublished.They had a fairly modest house and lifestyle so he hardly seemed to have the income of a bestselling author.Just niggled me a bit !

WindinTheWillowsLover · 06/12/2018 22:38

I think Ruth Wilson might be up for a Bafta for this, but there have been so many other good things on lately- Little Drummer Girl and Death by Nightingales.

WindinTheWillowsLover · 06/12/2018 22:39

@SnugglyPig- he did write under a pseudonym, but not sure if that was all the books or just some.

noodlenosefraggle · 06/12/2018 22:40

I thought the modest house was something to do with him having to secretly support 2 families. He didn't seem to bother with supporting Dorothy but did Gladys and Alison.

WindinTheWillowsLover · 06/12/2018 22:41

according to Wiki, he wrote under 3 names, and his last novel was published in 1940.

CharltonLido73 · 07/12/2018 08:38

You do realise the RT piece was published some time ago? maybe complain to them about 'spoiling it' for the audience!

The RT never spoiled it for me - that was you. I didn't go looking for more information than that which is provided in each episode.

And your analogy with the six wives of HenryVIII is ludicrous. As I don't need to point out, that is something all of us will have learned in primary school; this drama is based on events which most of us are only learning through the drama presented - unless we have chosen to go away and research the full picture.

You may be choosing to regard this as a factual, historical piece, but it is presented as drama: the viewer is left wondering what else is to be discovered the following episode. On that basis, I am not being unreasonable to object to events being flagged up in advance of the drama as it unfolds.

What annoys me more than the spoiler is your self-righteousness - that you are right and know best, and that by giving away more than has been shown in the drama you are denying the rights of some viewers to simply discover by watching. It's that lack of respect for personal choice that I don't appreciate.

ViragoKnows · 07/12/2018 08:51

Wind, Chartlton is right in saying that the general rule on this board has always been to avoid giving spoilers and to set up a separate thread with spoiler warnings in the title if necessary. The fact that you've chosen to read articles and I've chosen to read the book and someone else might have chosen to read the wikipedia page isn’t really the point. I’d hate if spoilers became the rule.

WindinTheWillowsLover · 07/12/2018 08:54

Oh do let it go. Honestly, you're getting wound up over nothing. In all honesty, if 'one more wife in the background' is upsetting your appreciation of the deeper psychological issues, I feel sorry that you are missing all of that. For me, and others who have posted here on this, knowing there is another wife is irrelevant. It's not ABOUT how many wives so I am completely puzzled why you are so upset and it's making such a difference to your enjoyment of it. Really.

If the RT 'spilled the beans' then I'm clearly not the only one who thinks that the number of wives is not really important.

ViragoKnows · 07/12/2018 08:56

For me, and others who have posted here on this, knowing there is another wife is irrelevant.

Why are you speaking for other posters? Confused