For goodness sake it's AspinAll. Not Asquith or AspinEll. ;-)
Not a fan of Christopher Eccleston but I agree he was truly awful in this. Not helped by ludicrous dialogue but, he had no idea of playing upper class whatsoever. His accent and delivery were unconvincing and therefore I expect he will win a BAFTA.
I thought Rory Kinnear looked enough like Lord Lucan to be credible - hairstyles were after all that bad in the 1970's. I hadn't realised until I looked him up that he was actually the son of the late Roy Kinnear whom he does resemble.
Was I the only person who had difficulty matching up the people in the 1970's with those being interviewed by Bishop Len Brennan? They all seemed to roll in to one.
I recall the original crime and thought this was quite a good premise based on the facts; there doesn't seem any doubt that Lord Lucan was a bit of a wrong 'un. Can't imagine though how his children must feel having it all raked up or indeed the family of the late Sandra Rivett.
All in all it was watchable and at least it wasn't repeat.
BIB -Why so aggressive??? Whom did I hurt? I doubt any member of the AspinAll family would read this or care. And just for the record I didn't ever say 'Asquith'.
Are you a retired schoolmaster?;-)
The writing was awful and laboured. Eccleston's accent was ridiculous, his acting even worse. The scenes in Acapulco were breathtakingly cheap and all in all it summed up what we have come to expect from an ITV drama.
I came to the program having just watched the latest episode of 'Last Tango in Halifax' and I was struck by just how bad the camera work and the feel of this 'Lucan' was. I lived through the 1960s and 1970s and it just didn't feel right. Apart from the odd Ford Anglia how would one know this was the early 70s?
Having said all that Lucan must have been a pretty thick sort. How did he expect to get away with bludgeoning his wife to death in the basement. Did he not think there might be blood, teeth and bits of skull all over the place?
I must admit I was gripped by the whole thing, and can't wait to see part 2.
About Ecclestone's accent - it didn't sound too bad to me, though my only exposure to upper class accents is via TV. I don't think I've seen him in anything else, so I've no idea how he normally sounds.
............The other possibility is the almost equally unlikely scenario that Lucan managed to dispose of himself, without help, and without his body being found.
In Thomas Harris's books, the usual way to dispose of a body is via a pig farm. I wonder whether any of lucan's friends owned a pig farm. Or something similar...
Having said all that Lucan must have been a pretty thick sort. How did he expect to get away with bludgeoning his wife to death in the basement. Did he not think there might be blood, teeth and bits of skull all over the place?
The murder would have been blamed on an intruder and although Lucan would have been a prime suspect his friends would have helped with his alibi but when he found he'd killed the wrong person, it was all over for him.
The murder would have been blamed on an intruder and although Lucan would have been a prime suspect his friends would have helped with his alibi but when he found he'd killed the wrong person, it was all over for him.
Maybe but he must have been bonkers to think he could ever get away with it after such an acrimonious divorce and no sign of a break-in.
I at least expected Ecclestone to sound British, he sounded Australian to me.
Maybe our ears hear different things?
Having lived in Sydney and now sometimes being accused of having an Aussie twang to my North London accent, I didn't hear any shades of down under all.
And....he didn't start any sentence with 'Look,....'
It turned out better than I expected. I thought Ecclestone portrayed Aspinall quite well and found his accent and demeanour convincing. Much of Belgravia was run down in the 70s as was much of London. I liked how it captured the moral bankruptcy of the set Lucan mixed with. Part one was the easy part. Part two will be more difficult especially if it fails to name and shame those who connived in helping a murderer escape justice.
I'm going to watch it on 'catch up' over Christmas (there's sod all on over that period that seems worth watching!>:() with the adverts removed.I followed Broadchurch that way and it was far more gripping than being constantly interrupted with ad breaks.:kitty:
The murder would have been blamed on an intruder and although Lucan would have been a prime suspect his friends would have helped with his alibi but when he found he'd killed the wrong person, it was all over for him.
If that Lady Lucan website is her, then it seems she was in the house and offered to conceal the nanny's body. She may have said that so he would not kill her. If Lucan was motivated by his wife's money why didn't he bump both of them off, as his wife would have been the only witness?
The Lady Lucan website said he was pointlessly made bankrupt as he had sufficient funds to meet his debts, if he had funds why the need to bump her off?
With Lady Lucan still alive, is there a story waiting to be told?
Having lived in Sydney and now sometimes being accused of having an Aussie twang to my North London accent, I didn't hear any shades of down under all.
And....he didn't start any sentence with 'Look,....'
Down under or up over, he certainly never sounded like 'Aspers', that's for sure.
I thought it was excellent. That they didn't use music leading up to the murder made it tense beyond belief.
I guess whoever posted the message about Lady Lucan would not have thought to put it into 'spoilers' as it was and still is one of the biggest mysteries ever.
I thought just about everyone knew that the nanny was murdered and Lady Lucan survived....
Very interesting programme and it's a pity that in all probability nobody will ever know whether he survived and lived a long life or died immediately....or may still be alive.
For goodness sake these are/were real people and this was a huge story well reported in the press in the 1970's and also due to the controversial nature of the topic, has been mentioned recently when the program was scheduled. It is not like revealing the plot of Downton Abbey.
I wonder how Lady Lucan feels about seeing herself portrayed?
It seems clear that people were aware of his escape but if or how much he was helped by his coterie of friends I don't suppose will ever be known.
I was fascinated by this story as a child, I would have been 7 or so at the time it happened. I don't remember the facts of the crime, just all the hysterical Lord Lucan headlines. It seemed very dramatic through a child's eyes.
My 2 secrets that I wanted to find out before I died were who shot Kennedy and where did Lucan go.
I thought it was a really good, if not very flattering, story but hubby was bored rigid. All he noticed was how much they all smoked. But I'm really looking forward to next week to find out what they actually think happened to him.
Spoiler? Pft. It's not a Lynda LaPlante, it's based on actual events. Who the heck doesn't know that Lady Lucan survived, it's one of the most famous British crimes of the latter part of the 20th century.
Very, very good indeed. I had to keep reminding myself it was on ITV. I choose to regard Eccleston`s weird accent as serving to accentuate Aspers amoral disconnection from everyone else. Him and Lucan were monsters going by this which is slightly odd as the Radio Times interview with Kinnear makes it clear he doesn`t see him in that way necessarily.
One criticism - Those bloody cardboard boxes (representing the bin strike) looked more like they were waiting for Starsky and Hutch to barrel into them rather than being stinking piles of refuse as they were in reality.
We went camping in France in 1975, on one site was an Englishman who was the double of Lord Lucan, his picture had been in all the papers, I pointed him out to a few others and they agreed.Perhaps he is still alive somewhere in the world helped by all his posh chums.
He went to India, Australia then back to Indian and finished up in Goa drinking in Bob's Inn whilst renting a house near to the bar - or so the Dead Lucky book has us believe. His ex landlady used to tell us the same story - we will see.
We went camping in France in 1975, on one site was an Englishman who was the double of Lord Lucan, his picture had been in all the papers, I pointed him out to a few others and they agreed.Perhaps he is still alive somewhere in the world helped by all his posh chums.
There is definitely much, much more to this story than we will ever know. Think about a prestigious Earl killing his children's nanny and and disappearing. Whether he did it or not (and I've read endless theories on how he didn't do it but disturbed the real killer, whilst his wife jumped to conclusions) he didn't just vanish into thin air. He had exceptionally rich and powerful friends. Without getting into conspiracy theory territory, people out there knew (or still know) for sure where he went - whether it was through helping him escape abroad or hearing that he planned to commit suicide. I wonder, in the 70s, just how deeply Scotland Yard would have been willing to really delve into a crime and perversion of justice involving the nobility...
We went camping in France in 1975, on one site was an Englishman who was the double of Lord Lucan, his picture had been in all the papers, I pointed him out to a few others and they agreed.Perhaps he is still alive somewhere in the world helped by all his posh chums.
Perhaps he hid in plain view - on TV screens every Sunday in the 70s.
Comments
BIB -Why so aggressive??? Whom did I hurt? I doubt any member of the AspinAll family would read this or care. And just for the record I didn't ever say 'Asquith'.
Are you a retired schoolmaster?;-)
The writing was awful and laboured. Eccleston's accent was ridiculous, his acting even worse. The scenes in Acapulco were breathtakingly cheap and all in all it summed up what we have come to expect from an ITV drama.
I came to the program having just watched the latest episode of 'Last Tango in Halifax' and I was struck by just how bad the camera work and the feel of this 'Lucan' was. I lived through the 1960s and 1970s and it just didn't feel right. Apart from the odd Ford Anglia how would one know this was the early 70s?
Having said all that Lucan must have been a pretty thick sort. How did he expect to get away with bludgeoning his wife to death in the basement. Did he not think there might be blood, teeth and bits of skull all over the place?
Particularly loved the scene at the end, how it was all done in 'real time' rather than cutting back and forth etc
About Ecclestone's accent - it didn't sound too bad to me, though my only exposure to upper class accents is via TV. I don't think I've seen him in anything else, so I've no idea how he normally sounds.
In Thomas Harris's books, the usual way to dispose of a body is via a pig farm. I wonder whether any of lucan's friends owned a pig farm. Or something similar...
http://www.onlinepublishingcompany.info/content/sitenewsreadmore/infobox/news/template/default/active_id/1419
The murder would have been blamed on an intruder and although Lucan would have been a prime suspect his friends would have helped with his alibi but when he found he'd killed the wrong person, it was all over for him.
Maybe but he must have been bonkers to think he could ever get away with it after such an acrimonious divorce and no sign of a break-in.
Maybe our ears hear different things?
Having lived in Sydney and now sometimes being accused of having an Aussie twang to my North London accent, I didn't hear any shades of down under all.
And....he didn't start any sentence with 'Look,....'
If that Lady Lucan website is her, then it seems she was in the house and offered to conceal the nanny's body. She may have said that so he would not kill her. If Lucan was motivated by his wife's money why didn't he bump both of them off, as his wife would have been the only witness?
The Lady Lucan website said he was pointlessly made bankrupt as he had sufficient funds to meet his debts, if he had funds why the need to bump her off?
With Lady Lucan still alive, is there a story waiting to be told?
I thought it was excellent. That they didn't use music leading up to the murder made it tense beyond belief.
I guess whoever posted the message about Lady Lucan would not have thought to put it into 'spoilers' as it was and still is one of the biggest mysteries ever.
I thought just about everyone knew that the nanny was murdered and Lady Lucan survived....
Very interesting programme and it's a pity that in all probability nobody will ever know whether he survived and lived a long life or died immediately....or may still be alive.
For goodness sake these are/were real people and this was a huge story well reported in the press in the 1970's and also due to the controversial nature of the topic, has been mentioned recently when the program was scheduled. It is not like revealing the plot of Downton Abbey.
I wonder how Lady Lucan feels about seeing herself portrayed?
It seems clear that people were aware of his escape but if or how much he was helped by his coterie of friends I don't suppose will ever be known.
My 2 secrets that I wanted to find out before I died were who shot Kennedy and where did Lucan go.
I thought it was a really good, if not very flattering, story but hubby was bored rigid. All he noticed was how much they all smoked.
Spoiler? Pft. It's not a Lynda LaPlante, it's based on actual events. Who the heck doesn't know that Lady Lucan survived, it's one of the most famous British crimes of the latter part of the 20th century.
One criticism - Those bloody cardboard boxes (representing the bin strike) looked more like they were waiting for Starsky and Hutch to barrel into them rather than being stinking piles of refuse as they were in reality.
That's hilarious!
made my day reading that utter tripe
There is definitely much, much more to this story than we will ever know. Think about a prestigious Earl killing his children's nanny and and disappearing. Whether he did it or not (and I've read endless theories on how he didn't do it but disturbed the real killer, whilst his wife jumped to conclusions) he didn't just vanish into thin air. He had exceptionally rich and powerful friends. Without getting into conspiracy theory territory, people out there knew (or still know) for sure where he went - whether it was through helping him escape abroad or hearing that he planned to commit suicide. I wonder, in the 70s, just how deeply Scotland Yard would have been willing to really delve into a crime and perversion of justice involving the nobility...
Perhaps he hid in plain view - on TV screens every Sunday in the 70s.
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq85/cornershop15/Magazines%20in%20TV%20Shows/SimonWilliamsinUpstairsDownstairs-MissForrest.jpg