The Sixth Commandment - BBC 1 9pm -mon 17 and Tue 18th and week after - tv pace. No spoilers

[Blondeshavemorefun]

This is a 4 part factual drama

on Monday 17 and Tue 18 , then mon 24 and Tue 25th

all will be on iPlayer but this is tv paced !!!!

The BBC has released first-look images for The Sixth Commandment, a brand new four-part true crime drama which explores the deaths of Peter Farquhar and Ann Moore-Martin in the village of Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire, and the extraordinary events that unfolded over the following years.

The images show Timothy Spall as Peter Farquhar, Anne Reid as Ann Moore-Martin, Éanna Hardwicke as Ben Field and Annabel Scholey as Ann’s niece, Ann-Marie Blake, alongside Sheila Hancock as Liz Zettl and Ben Bailey Smith as Simon Blake.

The Sixth Commandment tells the story of how the meeting of an inspirational teacher, Peter Farquhar (Timothy Spall), and a charismatic student, Ben Field (Éanna Hardwicke), set the stage for one of the most complex and confounding criminal cases in recent memory.

It also focuses on how suspicions around Field’s relationship with Ann Moore-Martin (Anne Reid), Peter’s deeply religious neighbour, unlocked a series of chilling revelations.

The Sixth Commandment explores the way in which both Peter and Ann were manipulated by Field, capturing the extreme gaslighting, the gripping police investigation and the high-profile trial, while poignantly highlighting the devastating effect of isolation and loneliness, as Field closed in on them.

It also celebrates both Peter and Ann’s lives as cherished mentors, much loved relatives and adored friends.

Wow @SilverSpringss So you have heard the other side

And I wondered if Lizzie was going to die at the end of e2

I agree . I think he knew that Ben was taking advantage he did it too to some extent , but I don't believe he knew Ben was poisoning them .

@daisythistle
*
The impression I got was that Ben was very clever but didn't put the effort in . So he aced his exams with little effort . I believe he rejected school , played truant but was an avid reader. My friend had a child who didn't put much effort in at school messed about but managed to get A -A in most of his GCSEs.

That would make sense. Naturally clever but idle.

Oh you're my twin. It was my birthday yesterday (18/07)

Anyway back to the thread.....I've watched 2 episodes. Ben is so creepy! Is Martin in on it all (not clear to me but obviously he had the strange relationship with the 100 year old woman).

Sorry, now read the full thread including the pp w4ho knows Martyn and how he was manipulated by Ben too.

Ps Timothy Spall has always been one of my favourite actors. He's so versatile. He caen do tragic characters, comedy characters, and anything in between.

He's lost so much weight of late.

Am watching the first episode now. Wow. It's awful that this actually happened!

I binged it all. Bloody hell, that was amazing and harrowing.
I had initial doubts when I heard that it's written by Sarah Phelps because I was so disappointed in Dublin Murders and The Pale Horse (fantastic atmospheres but so frustrating because lacking in explanations/conclusions) but this is worlds apart.
I was happy to hear the families supported the series and that the production team left out some especially distressing details. Which I couldn't help googling and now I sort of wish I hadn't because it involved, among other things, animal cruelty. Ben Field, what an absolute psychopath.

I think we will all come across a Ben at some point in our lives , not a murderer but someone deeply manipulative. Probably won't realise it at the time . If you do twig what's going on it is very frustrating as you can see it but others can't as they are spellbound by them .

I've watched it all and I can't stop thinking about it. It's just so harrowing and calculated. I'm now watching the documentary on channel 4 and the the actors have portrayed them brilliantly. It's just such a sad case. Peter seemed like such a lovely lovely man.

I keep on thinking of when Ben and Peter hugged. The way Timothy Spall placed his hands on Bens back. It was so innocent. So inexperienced. And I think that’s who Peter was. An innocent soul without any experience of love and holding someone.

Me too, although I had watched a documentary about it before.

The bit that really really chilled me was Peter in the care home with the elderly patient. I won't say any further in case of spoilers for others, but it was so horrible.

I’ve watched it too and the documentary now. Both extraordinary pieces of tv. How did they film the catching a killer series? I guess they must have been filming lots of investigations from the start and then produced the ones that made it to court/sentencing. Painstaking stuff.

Peter and Ann were such good, honest, trusting people. The thought of them being so cruelly manipulated is just horrendous.

I've started watching it too now. It's very good, not sure I am as evangelical about it as some of the reviews but certainly powerful and compelling. It seems a bit fast paced, It could easily have filled more episodes.

I agree that it's a salutory reminder that we should pay attention to what someone does not what they say. It was clear that Peter went downhill after meeting Ben, but everyone was so charmed by him the truth went unnoticed.

I’ve watched it all and thought it was brilliant. Slightly confused about why Ben was videoing - won’t say any more in case of spoilers - but I think it’s the same part that @Roussette mentioned.
If anyone knows what that was about please PM me! 😊

Yes, that's it. I thought it was horrible and I think it was just a power psychopathic thing that he would watch back to amuse himself. Which makes it all the worse. Quite upsetting to imagine.

I remember hearing about this case on the News as it was only a few years ago , but not in great detail .

I just googled Peter to see when the actual year was [2015] and there was a picture of him with Ben . The actor who plays him in this looks so uncannily like him it's eerie .

Only watched episode 1 so far, Timothy Spall is briliant .

I've watched it all now but will obviously only comment on first 2 episodes. I'm glad they didn't drag out the decline of both Peter and Anne. I couldn't have faced 4 episodes of cruelty. So I thought the pacing was good. Acting absolutely sublime as others have said.

The writer has been so lovely on twitter about Ann-Marie and how her love for her aunt 'burned with white hot anger' or similar.

I think she really succeeded in making Peter and Anne front and centre of the drama. I don't want to know more about Ben Field particularly. I think some people just end up wrong/wicked and I don't want to understand them.

I'm glad about Martyn; that he has friends and that he was also manipulated by BF, rather than in on it.

Me too. Working away from home for two weeks so binged it in my hotel room at night. Then watched the documentary. DH watched the first episode and wasn't sure he could face the rest. Peter was his teacher and helped hm get into Cambridge. He met him on holiday once and they went for a drink. He was shaken when it was in the news. He thought Spall was brilliant.

It's too sad. Field is almost a textbook psycho. I wish I didn't, but I have a strong desire to find out about his background, to work out how anyone could turn out that way.

i am glad he thought Spall was brilliant,
he absolutely was but your dh knew Peter

Where can I watch the documentary? Thanks .

It's here https://www.channel4.com/programmes/catching-a-killer/on-demand/67116-002

Thank you very much

@butterpuffed yes I said how alike they got actors to look like them