The Blackheath Poisonings: The Complete Series DVD, 1992

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MovieMail's Review

A stellar cast plays out this gripping Victorian murder mystery, screened on ITV in 1992, that reveals the darker face of Victorian life. There's lashings of nicely calculated suspense too, says Barry Forshaw.

Much applauded on its first showing, the striking Victorian murder mystery series The Blackheath Poisonings is based on the celebrated novel by Julian Symons, and put together by producer Kenny McBain (who also has under his belt the TV Inspector Morse).

The tone of this atmospheric period drama laden is nicely judged: there's a subtly sardonic air, but no parody – and there are lashings of nicely calculated suspense. It is essentially a family drama: the Collards and the Vandervents are the two distinguished families in the moneyed, comfortable setting of Albert Villa, near the London suburb of Blackheath. But the bourgeois respectability conceals a disturbing turbulence beneath the surface, with internecine squabbles over control of the family toy business. A Machiavellian stranger arrives, and Albert Villa is thrown into barely disguised chaos, with – inevitably -- murder on the menu. The production looks splendid, but the top-notch cast is the thing here; Zoe Wanamaker, Judy Parfitt and (most divertingly) the saturnine Patrick Malahide using all their considerable skills to stir the ingredients of a heady brew.

Barry Forshaw on 23rd March 2010
View all 513 of Barry Forshaw's reviews

The Blackheath Poisonings: The Complete Series

Film Information

Director - Stuart Orme

Produced - 1992

Main Language - English

Countries & Regions - British Film, American film

Cast - Judy Parfitt, Patrick Malahide, Zoe Wanamaker, Ian McNeice

DVD Details

Certificate:	15	Publisher:	Network	Region:	2
Length:	150 mins	Cat No:	7953227
Format:	DVD Colour

Film Description

The Blackheath Poisonings is a gripping Victorian murder mystery, based on the novel by Julian Symons, features a stellar cast that includes Ian McNeice, Zoë Wanamaker, Patrick Malahide, Judy Parfitt and James Faulkner. Created by Inspector Morse producer Kenny McBain, adapted by celebrated novelist and scriptwriter Simon Raven and directed by the BAFTA-nominated Stuart Orme (The Sculptress), The Blackheath Poisonings is essential viewing for all fans of period drama and suspense.

The Collards and the Vandervents form an extended family in the respectable, if ostentatious, splendour of Albert Villa, on the edge of the London suburb of Blackheath. But dangerous emotions boil beneath the calm surface in a household of ill-matched adults, thrown together for the sake of the family toy business; while the arrival of a scheming stranger stretches the fragile harmony of Albert Villa to breaking point, it becomes clear that the façade is crumbling when a gruesome death threatens to reveal sordid secrets and illicit love – and the darker, hidden face of Victorian life.