There are themes and ideas that would have been explored in Ruth Rendell's novel that just never comes across successfully in this television adaptation.
The whole Master of the Moor never gelled and the final episode really struggled to be coherent.
Stephen Whalby and DI Manciple both have a heart to heart after Lyn Whalby's body is discovered on the moors.
Both men had spouses that cheated on them. Whereas Stephen had never consummated his marriage in the first place.
DI Manciple realises that Stephen killed his wife in some kind of silent rage. He might not even remember killing his wife.
The body was placed on the moors to blame it on the same killer of the other women.
The strange man wandering around the moors turned out to be a childhood friend of Stephen, who had returned to the area. Is this random person the killer of the other women.
Of course the killer of the first two women was Stephen's dad. A habitual killer. Is that why his wife left him all those years ago? Did Stephen have suspicions about his father? Did his father also kill many years earlier. If yes where are the victims? Did Stephen marry Lyn to somehow protect her?
Lots of questions that this adaptation could not answer. Instead relying on contrivance and moody shots.
The whole Master of the Moor never gelled and the final episode really struggled to be coherent.
Stephen Whalby and DI Manciple both have a heart to heart after Lyn Whalby's body is discovered on the moors.
Both men had spouses that cheated on them. Whereas Stephen had never consummated his marriage in the first place.
DI Manciple realises that Stephen killed his wife in some kind of silent rage. He might not even remember killing his wife.
The body was placed on the moors to blame it on the same killer of the other women.
The strange man wandering around the moors turned out to be a childhood friend of Stephen, who had returned to the area. Is this random person the killer of the other women.
Of course the killer of the first two women was Stephen's dad. A habitual killer. Is that why his wife left him all those years ago? Did Stephen have suspicions about his father? Did his father also kill many years earlier. If yes where are the victims? Did Stephen marry Lyn to somehow protect her?
Lots of questions that this adaptation could not answer. Instead relying on contrivance and moody shots.
