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Strong stuff
A lot of women want to poison their ex-boyfriends. Only a few actually DO. <
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>But the suspicion is enough to land a woman in the dock in "Strong Poison," the first of a trilogy of mysteries about eccentric detective Lord Peter Wimsey and his romantic interest, crime writer Harriet Vane. While this episode spends a little too little time on the interesting side characters, it's a compelling mystery that seems hopeless at first. <
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>Lord Peter Wimsey (Edward Petherbridge) becomes interested in the trial of Harriet Vane (Harriet Walter), a mystery writer who lived with her boyfriend until he proposed marriage (it had all been a test). Six months later, after a visit, her ex dropped dead of arsenic. But Peter is sure that Harriet didn't do the crime -- and he's fallen in love -- and so becomes determined to break this watertight case against her. <
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>And so he turns his attention to suicide, since there was plenty of motive for that. But the most promising lead turns out to be the dead man's cousin, a successful lawyer whose motives and opportunity remain unknown -- as the court tells us, the only food that the deceased ate was also eaten by the suspect. But the brilliant Wimsey knows he can find the answer, before Harriet's retrial. <
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>"Strong Poison" probably had a special signficance for Dorothy Sayers. First, it introduced her alter-ego, Harriet. Secondly, some of the events that happened to Harriet -- living with a boyfriend, the "test" -- really happened in real life, although presumably Sayers didn't come under suspicion of having murdered her ex. <
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>The murder itself is very intriguing, if very slow-moving and roundabout. The case against Harriet is practically foolproof, so it's intriguing to see Wimsey carefully pulling the chinks out of it, and exposing another motive for the dead man's death. But they include some funny (if too brief) moments, like Peter having tea with a hilarious lesbian couple, or the fake seance that Peter's secretary holds. <
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>Not to mention some great dialogue ("I don't positively repel you or anything like that, do I?"), including Sayers' needling at double standards for women ("You are bearing in mind, aren't you, that I've had a lover?" "Oh, yes, so've I. Several, in fact. It's the sort of thing that could happen to anyone. I can produce quite good testimonials"). <
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>Petherbridge makes a perfect Peter -- tall, skinny and blonde, with a long nose and perpetually falling monocle, and the impression that he doesn't take himself too seriously. Walter is also quite good as the prickly, and the supporting actors (especially Richard Morant as Bunter) are all extremely good, right down to the locksmith-turned-preacher. <
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>"Strong Poison" was a good start to the trilogy of Wimsey-Vane mysteries, and an excellent adaptation of Sayers' mystery. Definitely worth watching, for those who like slow, dryly amusing British mysteries.

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Lord Peter Wimsey, better than ever!
In this series, starring Edward Petherbridge, we are introduced to the supremely aristocratic Lord Peter Wimsey, the talented and strongminded Harriet Vane and the fascinatingly resourceful Bunter. <
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>In my mind's eye, these characters are brought to life with a degree of affection and charm, with a sharp eye to authenticity and mannerisms of the class and time. <
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>Having watched this series the first time round, it was well worth the wait to finally purchase this series (and Amazon was cheaper than Powell's, PBS, and Barnes & Noble).

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"Except that the girl's innocent."
Things are not going well at Harriet Vane's trial for the murder of her former lover, Philip Boyd - hearing the judge's summation, only the most unrealistic of minds could conclude that she is not guilty as charged.

One such mind, however, is that of Lord Peter Wimsey - the same Lord Peter who, normally a beacon of logic, unfailingly unspins the web of every criminal intrigue to which he brings to bear his intellectual powers, but who now, epitome of a bachelor that he has heretofore been, without so much as ever having personally met Harriet, is dead-set on marrying her. So when he tells his old friend (and as readers of Dorothy Sayers's books know, soon-to-be brother in law) Chief Inspector Parker, who was in charge of the investigation, that Parker has made a mistake, the policeman is unsettled; despite the water-tight case he feels he has put together. "Where is the flaw?" he inquires gingerly. "There isn't one," Wimsey retorts. "Except that the girl's innocent."

Thus, the scene is set for the first entry in Sayers's Wimsey-Vane canon, whose first three installments are brought to the small screen in this delightful miniseries. (The other two installments, "Have His Carcase" and "Gaudy Night," have the sleuthing pair investigate a mysterious knife-inflicted death in a seaside resort, where Harriet has gone to regain her peace of mind after her acquittal; and a serious of poison-pen letters and vandalism directed at independent women, and particularly women in academia, at Harriet's Oxford college. As the movie rights to the fourth and last episode completed by Sayers herself, "Busman's Honeymoon," were sold by the author, the BBC was unable to also include that particular installment; unfortunately so, as their version would undoubtedly have been more faithful than 1940's "Haunted Honeymoon" starring Robert Montgomery and Constance Cummings).

So, while Harriet is pining away in prison, dreading a jury verdict which, she feels, can only be delayed, not avoided entirely, and not knowing how to deal with the sudden attentions of a well-known member of the nobility, Wimsey busies himself with the search for Boyd's true murderer; whom he eventually finds with the help of his confidante Miss Climpson (whose presence in the jury box, unbeknownst to Harriet, has already proved instrumental in producing a hung jury despite the judge's damning summation) and her assistant, Miss Murchison; both of which ladies, while perfectly honorable, do not shrink from unconvential methods when called for in the pursuit of justice.

What most distinguishes this miniseries is its faithfulness to Dorothy Sayers's books, as well as its superb cinematography, marvelously capturing the settings; from Old Bailey and pre-WWII London to sleepy and somewhat seedy seaside resorts and the timeless grace and high spirits of Oxford University. Unfortunately (particularly so in "Gaudy Night") a number of subplots were dropped, but the essence of Sayers's novels is maintained; and much of the dialogue is taken literally from those. Edward Petherbridge nails Lord Peter's tone and exalted mannerisms, as well as his hidden vulnerabilities, to a tee - fans of Ian Carmichael's more physical, over-the-top interpretation be reminded that Sayers herself, in "Strong Poison," describes Wimsey as of "slight" build, while giving a rather unexpected impression of "controlled power." (Granted, though, that, conceivably having endowed Lord Peter with much of her own preferences in men, Sayers would not have Harriet comment, as she does in the BBC's version of "Gaudy Night," that he is "not much to look at;" in fact, she has her heroine veritably pining over a sleeping Lord Peter's physiognomy during that very novel's famous punting trip.) - Harriet Walter, similarly, shares more than her first name with the stories' female protagonist; she is exactly the Harriet Vane one might image when reading the books (I certainly did). Richard Morant as Lord Peter's faithful manservant Bunter is about a knife's tip too much of a jack-of-all-trades for my tastes - I can well see him "insinuating" himself into a suspect's household at his master's behest or (as in "Have His Carcase") shadowing another suspect all across London, but not necessarily fretting, as he does in "Busman's Honeymoon," over the sake of a case of vintage port, packed in eiderdowns in the back of a car and in danger of being rattled (and rendered undrinkable for months, if not years to come) by Lord Peter's brisk driving habits. Still, overall this is an outstanding production; undoubtedly one of the BBC's finest ever, and long overdue to be revived in this format.