Spoiler thread for : the following events are based on a pack of lies

[the80sweregreat]

A spoiler thread for us who are too impatient for tv pace thread.

I loved it, would love other opinions on it!
Great acting and I liked the fantasy elements amongst the more serious content too
A bit different, but sadly all too familiar for many women.

I mentioned it on another thread. I thought she was dreadful too.

I thought she was great !

Me too! Such lovely diction and a beautiful accent

@MoiraRosesBaybay Looks like we were the only ones who didn't like Cheryl! Glad I'm not the only one. To me she seemed so unnatural.

Wasn't she meant to be someone who was apparently sorted and confident but was still vulnerable despite that and actually seemed tempted to put up with him at one point. Not seen her before I don't think.

I thought the ending was so sad.

The lengths they had to go to.

Then he was easily(?) getting the psychiatrist on side.

So I'm guessing he would have a plausible reason for pretending to be someone else & they couldn't provr that he had done any harm?

I love her and have been a huge fan since Secrets and Lies. Was gutted to read a few years back that she felt she had to move to the US in order to get work.

I binged it today - thought it was really good. Agree with Alice being irritating but as the victim of coercive control it made sense that she was paralysed about speaking up earlier.

(A friend of my mother's fell victim to a 'Rob' - he was charming and completely plausible, and none of us saw through him. It all came out in the Mail as there were 10+ women he had scammed out of hundreds of thousands of pounds. My mother's friend was mortified as she's a very private person and was incensed that she, an intelligent widow, had fallen prey to a conman. Sadly, it is a tale as old as time....).

I have one episode to go.

He could have been my ex, I understand it completely.

It's very difficult to talk and people like him rely on no one comparing notes.

I lost a lot of money and I can understand the shame Alice felt but it's true, it was always them

I think it said that Alice did try to speak up earlier and she got a bad response. That's why she started her own in investigation. That was the whole premise I thought. Then she went to court and there was cctv footage of him strangling her and he got a fine, and they commented it was the same as you'd get for no TV licence. I think it made the point well.

Just finished. Found it slow to start with and a bit pointless, as there are so many true programmes about scammers, it seemed a bit superfluous to have a made up one.

Changed my mind though! Loved the last episode in particular, with the costumes and the maze. I'm glad they took that kind of over the top, quirky approach as it differentiated it from the 'true crime' scammer programmes.

I watched it to the end, was totally unbelievable but entertaining and Cheryl's house was to die for! Loved the decor

I loved they revived Laura Branigan, was a big fan when I was a teen! Though Self Control probably ruined for me now...

Cheryl was my favourite character! I thought she was so elegant and really believable

Can someone tell me what happened to the Ralph Unwin guy? It just said he was missing didn't it? Was he bumped off?

I really enjoyed this. Liked that it was quirky, would be so depressing otherwise.

I think there'll be a second series and they'll show what happened to Ralph Unwin, or he will continue to be missing and his story will be part of the plot.

I don't think the way he lied when confronted was very convincing. The first instance I think with the author was about a venue he saw something at. She wouldn't think she were the one going mad just because he insisted he had never given the name of the alternative venue when he clearly had.
I did notice the technique though but you know what they say about liars always tripping themselves up as it is hard to remember what you have said to whom.

Yes I wanted to like her but found her delivery very stilted and hesitant. The script quality was variable and the pace so slow (5 hours) that I found myself checking my phone which I never usually do.
I liked the quirkiness, the visuals, most of the characters but ultimately it was a let down. The 'big twist' of him being arrested and sectioned required him to comply in a way he would not have done in reality. I suppose it was a relief they didn't actually plot his murder though to put an end to his doings.
The financial machinations didn't really work either. At the end I wasn't sure whether the Derek Jacobi character was also a victim or an accomplice.
It could have been much better, the ingredients were there.

I meant to say Alice not Cheryl although in fact both were hesitant and stilted in their delivery which slowed the pace down too much.

I didn't find his lies that convincing, either. But I suppose we as the viewer were meant to see/be aware of more than the characters were, if you see what I mean. And all of his victims had been or were still in some way in thrall to him e.g. Cheryl was lonely and enjoying having found someone to be 'in love' with.
I was interested that Unwin fell for it, not having (I assume) an intimate relationship with him. Is it that he appealed to Unwin's professional ego?

'But I suppose we as the viewer were meant to see/be aware of more than the characters were, if you see what I mean.'
Yes I agree that we could see things more clearly as viewers. It was almost like being a 'fly on the wall' as people were conned 'in real time'.
It was never established whether he was really connected to the University in some way as he made out or whether it was all a complete con and he just hired the facilities in a College.
It is hard to see how a 'love scammer'/health treatment scammer (the burns on his back)' would easily go to impersonating an academic and taking so many people like Derek Jacobi character in. I suppose that helped viewers realise scams come in all formats.

I got the impression he was supposed to be impersonating an academic. I don't know if you'd get away with that IRL.
One of my criticisms of the programme is that plausibility was not, to put it mildly, its strong suit...

Having now hung out with academics, I'd say it is pretty easy to bullshit them.

I ended up sat next to a Cambridge professor at a dinner party and totally blagged it on the basis I'd seen the TV drama of the novel he studied. He was so excited someone actually wanted to talk about his topic he was blinded to everything else.

Just watched this series. Enjoyed it, but thought there were a couple of plot holes e.g. the £100,000 bank transfer - no way could that be done by a single signatory, especially from a charitable trust account. Also, I know Alice was meant to be an ordinary woman rather than a private investigator, but she really was unbelievably inept/lacking in common sense. A massive triangular magenta cape with a big pointy hood (which, I'm sorry, looked ridiculous - fairly obvious why she wasn't a successful designer) is hardly ideal attire for secretly following someone! He'd have spotted her immediately. And why didn't she just photocopy the Filofax and return it? He'd probably never even have missed it. Hopeless!

Just finished it. We both really enjoyed it, especially the final episode.