After the broadcast of Deadly Obsession in 1992. Kathleen Calhaem wrote to the Broadcasting Standards Council claiming her portrayal was unfair. Her complaint was rejected. She was in prison at the time for procuring murder.
This crime story very much sticks to the facts. Kathleen Calhaem (Janet Henfrey) was a well to do and tough as nails businesswoman. She lived with another woman and could not even be described as unconventionally beautiful.
Somehow Calhaem became obsessed with local solicitor Kenneth Pigot. He was having a long term affair with a married woman Shirley Rendell. Her husband was a good friend of Pigot.
Calhaem hatched a plan to get rid off Shirley. The patsy was Julan Zajac who also went by the name of Julian Jones, a private investigator who drank too much and gambled a lot.
He was paid £10,000 by the unhinged Calhaem to kill Shirley Rendell in 1983.
I did wonder why this story was chosen. Although factual based, was it about an ugly lesbian who became infatuated by a man. The psychology regarding both Calhaem and Zajac was missing. What we get here is threadbare, almost comical.
Henfrey is very good as the manipulative Kathleen Calhaem. She would be forever known as the teacher in The Singing Detective.
Kathleen Calhaem will not be complaining about my review. She was later released from prison and died in 2006.