I confess I am at something of a loss...

[byslantedlight]

...as they might have said in the programme... Did anyone else watch The Suspicions of Mr Whicher tonight? The Radio Times says: "Of course the source material is impeccable; Summerscale's book is a finely tuned and superbly researched mystery, but writer Neil McKay keeps a tight hold on all of the original's essential elements." and that might be true, but... I found it just a wee bit less than gripping, or interesting or anything other than... I'm not even sure what I found it. What were the essential elements that it was important to impart to us, over a hundred years later?

What am I missing? I saw a story where the Met detective followed the obvious clues, found an obvious story, and was foiled by the lies of the local police. I didn't gather any particular reason for those lies, except that the local policeman harboured a respect for Mr Kent that we were told wasn't shared by most of the locals. Not that anyone actually spoke out against Mr Kent that we saw - until the maid from his previous family randomly appeared. Whicher didn't offer her testimony at the hearing though... So then Kent hired a lawyer who pointed out the obvious flaws in Whichover's basically non-existant evidence, and Constance was released. Only to randomly decide to confess at some later date, although the drama heavily implied that... well, they seemed to think that she did do it, but with the help of her brother who got off scot free... Only... well, why did she suddenly need to confess? She was safe, the brother was safe... The bloody nightgown had allegedly been found - only to have, apparently, been returned to where it came from by the local policeman, who lied about it to Whicher. So... that was perhaps why Constance decided to confess? Only...

...and in the meantime, having been humiliated and effectively thrown out of the Met, Whicher turned to drink - though he was pulled out of it by his good friend and colleague Dolly, who came to his house to give him all the new news about the case/nightgown/confession etc. But... why? And Dolly was the man that Whicher insisted he must have urgently to help with the case, cos he couldn't trust the local police - but all Dolly did was hang around in the background... I... just... am at a complete and utter loss as to the point and interest of this programme or any of its characters...

Has anyone read the book? Does it at least have the feel of a mystery solved, or a story of humanity in times of trial, or...? Was the programme just a dreadful, dull adaptation, or did it miss some vital spark? Or did I miss some vital spark? Or...?

Comments

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It's funny, if I think of the story more as what-happened rather than a story, it seems as if there should be so much more scope to make it an interesting story! I mean - a man betrays his wife for their governess, his children are encouraged to mock their mother who dies. He then marries the governess and has two children with her - his first children realise that they are lesser in importance just as their mother once was. They try to run away from home, but are brought back; the daughter suffers either pretend or hysterical paralysis before their stepmother's new child is born. Still children themselves, they finally murder their young half-brother and dispose of his body in a privy, following a complex plan to throw the blame onto servants in the house. Although a blood-stained nightdress is found, the local policeman hides the evidence himself; a friend who at first spoke out about Constance changes her mind, and the family hires a lawyer for her defence, so that when the daughter is brought to trial there is nothing to convict her. Eventually Constance goes into a nunnery and then confesses to murder - she pointedly refuses to implicate her brother or anyone else, and is finally convicted. She is jailed rather than given the death penalty, and when released she and her brother emigrate to Australia together... How is that not an interesting story?! It should be! I wonder if the problem is that we were told the story from the pov of people wanting to show how clever they were for piecing it all together, rather than from the human aspect which is interesting...