Murder in Mind (TV Series) Teacher (2001) User Reviews

A daughter's love.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 26 April 2020]

Edward Palmer a well respected Headmaster plans a meet with a rent boy, but the assignation goes wrong, with catastrophic consequences. Palmer looks to his daughter for help.

In one word, dark. This is around the time where TV drama was in general quite dark, with some quite bleak stories, the first in the series of Murder in Mind is no exception. It features some grizzly scenes, and some pretty graphic images of drug abuse.

What's interesting is how Catrin becomes the driving force, knowing no limits in the defence of her father.

Superbly acted, Suchet and Kearney are both first rate, the sincerity in their characters is very evident. McAvoy is terrific, how he switches from enticing and comforting to crazed and angry, very skilled.

Very sinister, expect to be shocked and surprised, particularly with the ending, 9/10.

Sheer Suspense!!!

[kidboots · 10/10 · 9 August 2011]

I bought this set on Amazons. My "Thriller" collection was coming to an end and I needed something to fill the void. I watched the first episode last night and thought it was just super.

David Suchet, he of Hercule Poirot fame, plays Edward Palmer, a very highly regarded head master who has turned the school he has been assigned to from the bottom of the barrell to having a waiting list!! In a moment of madness (as the blurb says) he approaches a rent boy in a council estate but at the last moment can't go through with it. The boy (a drug addict) turns nasty and a fight ensues where the boy is accidentally killed. Edward gets away but finds he has left his credit card there. No worries - another equally aggressive lout has found it and is now trying to extort money from him. Meanwhile the police are snooping around - it seems that someone noticed his car on the estate and even had the presence of mind to jot down his number plate. A bit hard to believe as the events took place on a dark street at 11 o'clock at night!!

Enter David's daughter Catrin (Gillian Kearney) who initially seems to have compassion and a broad shoulder to cry on. She is a nurse at the local hospital and she hatches a plan to kill the blackmailer and, as before, David, at first, goes along with it before realising he is not a murderer - he could never willingly do that to even the lowest life. He decides to go to the police.

Catrin could quite happily kill, in fact she is almost thrilled at the thought of doing the deed and her emotional scene brings the viewer up short. She is unbalanced and has never got over the shock and shame of her mother's death in a road accident. She feels that if her father goes to the police she will never live it down. Yes, it's all about her and her feelings - never mind about poor old dad!!!

The end is just horrifying - no I'm not going to tell - it just shows you should never go to bed because you think you know what's going to happen next!!! It is just what you expect from writer Anthony Horowitz, who has penned some fine English crime shows - Midsomer Murders, Murder Most Horrid, Foyle's War.

Highly Recommended.