Season 18 - The Charmer (1988-1989)
Starting out in a whorehouse and ending in a prison with heavy Jack the Ripper overtones throughout makes The Charmer feel a bit off-brand and risque for Masterpiece Theatre. But it was the late eighties, perhaps they were trying to embrace an audience fed on years of Dynasty and Dallas? And you can't say it doesn't grab your attention with the charming yet menacing turn by Nigel Havers as Ralph Gorse, a man who'd never say no to a ligature. But knowing it's based on a series of books by Patrick Hamilton, the master of despair and dread, who supposedly based the character of Gorse on a serial killer, you can't say you didn't know what you were getting into...Unless you totally forgot about Patrick Hamilton's pedigree of Rope and Gaslight like I had, then you're watching the show slightly baffled that what you thought was going to be a nice little romp in the thirties veers into very dark territory. In fact, this note should have been passed along to whomever did the music, it's a little too cheerful, if you get my drift, and you'll get the Cole Porter song "You're the Top" stuck in your head for days. The material is primarily pulled from the second volume in Hamilton's series, Mr. Stimpson and Mr. Gorse, which I think would have been a far better title. Because while Gorse is a charming gigolo working his way into weary women's lives for a bit of lucre it's really the cat and mouse game between him and Mr. Stimpson that drives the plot. Mr. Stimpson feels that Ralph thwarted his love affair with Joan Plumleigh-Bruce, played divinely by Rosemary Leach. And OF COURSE Ralph did. But the problem is even if Ralph is a psychopath with sociopathic tenancies, he's not this dogmatic hypocritical stick in the mud that is everything Mr. Stimpson is. I'm not sure if it's because of how Bernard Hepton plays the roll or just how Mr. Stimpson is written, but you want him to lose. You want him to lose so bad. Yet ironically he is the voice of reason. But while there are reviewers who claim they wanted Ralph to get away with his crimes, I did not. I wanted accountability for everyone and for Joan to come out on top. Well, two out of three isn't bad.
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