There seems to be a British TV dramatisation of a recent headline-catching true-crime story every time you turn your head at present and here's another one, this time from the BBC. It concerns the nefarious activities of a young Christian lay-preacher named Ben Field who wears his crucifixion prominently on his chest but who inside, in his spare time, besides muscling himself up and writing and recording some distinctly ungodly-sounding gangsta rap, seems to be targeting the elderly church-going parishioners of the small English town of Maids Moreton, in particular those who live alone.
It doesn't matter whether they are male or female as Ben is adaptable and quite prepared to get intimate with either sex to manipulate his victims into changing their wills in his favour, not long before they mysteriously die, leaving him a major beneficiary to their ample fortunes.
He seems to employ a timid, dim-witted friend / disciple / accomplice Martin as initially his co-tenant in the homes of his targets but while he seems to get away with his first murder, which he dresses up as a suicide, he recklessly or foolishly hangs around the town and then repeats the same M. O. on an elderly spinster, who again coincidentally cuts the young man a major slice of her own estate too.
Thankfully through the combination of the dead lady's suspicious niece and dogged police work headed up by a soon-to-retire senior detective, they soon uncover Ben's rap tapes and journals, not to mention the incriminating daily diary entries of his first victim which he hasn't got the sense to destroy.
Ben's perfect manners and gentlemanly conduct to everyone he meets cover up the mindset of a borderline psychopathic narcissist, indeed just before he's caught, we see him and Martin moving in with a third potential prey, Sheila Hancock's elderly widow. Able to switch at will between seeming compassion and then cold-hearted cruelty, he was eventually found guilty and sentenced to thirty six years in prison although the same jury offered to Martin the benefit of the doubt and acquitted him.
The key part of Ben is brilliantly played by Éanna Hardwicke and there's strong support everywhere you look in the cast, especially Timothy Spall and Ann Reid as the two pensioners who died (Field was actually found not guilty of the second death) and Ian Farquar as the murdered man's brother and Annabel Scholey as the slain woman's unconvinced niece.
Yes, a few of the scenes seemed over-dramatised and there was the usual example of diversity in the casting which I really only object to when it's taking the place of a real life person from recent history, as here, but there was no doubt that this was another high quality drama effectively transposing another horrific story from the front page of the newspapers to the small screen in our living rooms. Sadly there seems to be no shortage of potential stories judging by other similar high-profile stories which will always capture the public's attention.
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