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Aug 12, 2017MartineVK rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Interesting take on the character of Mary Ann Cotton, multiple arsenic poisoner of Victorian times. On the one hand she can, of course, be seen as totally heartless, even more so as the other women around her are portrayed as completely selfless. On the other hand, screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes shows the limited professional mobility a woman had in those times and with no access to birth control. Chances are that Cotton was just a sociopathic piece-of-work, but the drama does make her the tiniest bit sympathetic because of the terrible conditions she and all women faced. The brilliant Alun Armstrong has a small part as Cotton's stepfather, and he comes across as compassionate as always. Jonas Armstrong (no relation) also appears here. He played opposite Froggatt in Robin Hood, so if you saw that series, it might be interesting to see these two in quite different roles.