I’m not a bad person. I just made a mistake.

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's Top 50 TV Shows of 2023 

#9 : The Sixth Commandment

This devastating four-part drama told the real story of Peter Farquhar and Ann Moore-Martin, and the man who conned them both into fake relationships with him before he murdered Peter and attempted to murder Ann. It could so easily have been another gauche dramatisation of a true crime. But with Sarah Phelps at the helm, it was beautifully and thoughtfully crafted, with the victims and their families always at the heart of it. The performances were outstanding, with Timothy Spall putting in what many viewers lauded as a career best.

I wasn't aware of this before I saw it here, but I've read several things since which say it's really good, so I'm looking forward to it.  I'm not generally fussed on "true crime" drama but I've heard this is very victim focussed, so we shall see.

OK.  I got halfway through the first episode and that was enough for me.  As far as I can tell, The Guardian got it right with "beautifully and thoughtfully crafted" but it was just too excruciating for me.  Not in a "it's terrible" kinda way, but in a "bad things are going to happen" kinda way - I just didn't want to see a bad man take advantage of and murder someone who trusted them.  Yes, I know I'm supposed to watch these things so you don't have to, but I just couldn't - from what I saw it all looked to be tastefully and considerately done, but I just didn't want to watch it.

The acting also looked to be fine - most of what I saw was based around Timothy Spall and he was doing a decent job.  I've always like him without necessarily having any obvious reason for doing so, so checked out his Wikipedia entry - the man certainly can't be charged with only picking vanity projects because his CV includes Red Dwarf, Tracy Ullman, Rab C Nesbitt, Spender, Chucklevision and Fungus The Bogeyman.  He's probably best known as Peter Pettigrew in the Harry Potter series these days, but he's definitely worth watching in "proper" roles in Life Is Sweet, Secrets & Lies and Topsy-Turvy and I've heard he's great in Mr Turner, but I have yet to see that.

Other people that appear in this are Anne Reid and Sheila Hancock who are hardly slouches in the acting department and Éanna Hardwicke looked to be doing a good job as the bad man from what I saw.  Reading a bit more around the case (which was horrific), Sheila Hancock's character, Elizabeth Zettl, made history when she testified in court during the case because she was the oldest ever witness at the grand old age of 101.

And that's all I've got to say really - I apologise if you came to this expecting a full breakdown (seriously, why would you do that?) but I just decided life was too short to put myself through the turmoil (although part of me was tempted to watch the last episode to watch him get caught!).  If you want to watch it and tell me I should have stuck with it, then it's on iPlayer - but I'm pretty sure it's not for me and it's weird when you consider the sorts of things I've stuck with!

#8 - Watch this space!
#10 - A very powerful documentary

Comments

  1. Anonymous27 February 2024 at 22:27

    I’m sorry but you take after your Mother in some respects! I have exactly the same trouble with watching things that I know are going to cause me stress and I certainly can’t handle violence ( unlike you I suspect!). However I did watch The Sixth Commandment knowing what I was going to see. I found it very hard to handle the horror of the fact that it was a true story with real victims and the most awful evil man…..but I’m glad I watched it. The acting was superb and I think all the accolades were well deserved. Personally I’d much rather watch programmes connected to true life than watch gratuitous violence. There’s enough violence in real life without making it up, seemingly just because people want to watch it……but then I am old!

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