Ordeal by Innocence 2018

     The setting of this film is Christmas of 1954 in the UK and it is based on a novel published in 1958 by Agatha Christie.  Rachel Argyll is a wealthy philanthropist and she has been murdered at Sunny Point, her family estate.  Rachel and her husband Egyptologist Leo Argyll have adopted five children, three girls and two boys.  Jack is the disturbed black sheep.  Mickey Is troubled, he has many tattoos and he was in WWII.  Mary Argyll Durrant is married to Philip and he is in a wheelchair from a car accident.  Mary is very serious, the first one adopted and she thought she should have been the only one adopted.  Tina doesn’t seem to fit in and teen boys in town taunt her.  Hester is also very serious.  Kirsten is the housekeeper.  Jack Argyll has been arrested for her murder but he claims he got a ride in a car on the road.  He adamantly protests his innocence and he says he was away from the estate.  Unfortunately, his fingerprints are found at the scene of the crime?

     The main complaints about this series are the length and the number of flashbacks!!   The adopted children each have a young actor playing them in the early years and an adult actor for this time period.  I thought this was very good and I enjoyed watching it very much.  I thought the acting was good.  There are many choices for who is the murderer.  There is also a why was Rachel murdered. See if you can unravel the puzzles before the final episode?   4 ½* (I really liked this series)

TV Mini-Series, 3 episodes, 60 min each, Drama directed by with Morven Christie, Anthony Boyle, Christian Cooke, Bill Nighy, Matthew Goode, Luke Treadaway, Anna Chancellor, Crystal Clarke, Ella Purnell, Eleanor Tomlinson, Luke Murray, Catriona McNicoll, Abigail Conteh, Rhy Lambert, Hayden Robertson, Brian McCardie, Alice Eve, Frances Grey, Sandy Welch. 

 

Note:  Imdb 7.3 out of 10, Amazon Video Season 1, 4* out of 5* with 810 reviews, 94% critic 75% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon gives the hardcover book 4.3* out of 5* with 126 reviews, Indiewire.com B- Steve Greene, The Guardian 5* out of 5* Lucy Mangan, Metacritic 71 out of 100 with 10 critics 5.9 out of 10 with 12 user ratings.

Special Note:  Catherine Keener was cast to play Rachael Argyll but Anna Chancellor took the role.  The adaptation differs from the novel in the conclusion.   Originally the series was filmed with Ed Westwick playing Mickey Argyll and it was scheduled to air the Christmas season of 2017.  In November 2017, the BBC announced it would not broadcast the series while a police investigation of Westwick was on going.  In January 2018, re-shoots began with Christian Cooke replacing Westwick.  There were problems with the re-shoots because the seasons were different.  The original scenes were filmed in the Summer of 2017 but the re-shot scenes were not taking place over 12 days in January 2018.  The entire re-shoot cost the BBC in excess of 2 million pounds.  Bill Nighy has Duputren’s Contracture.  This is a degenerative muscular condition.  It causes the ring and little fingers to become permanently folded in towards the palm.  It normally affects males over the age of 50.