Martin Kemp met a fiery end in Eastenders. Mainly because he hopped over to ITV on a golden handcuffs deal.
The true story of George Joseph Smith was a star vehicle for Martin Kemp. A period piece where he played a charming serial killer of not too bright women who wanted a bit of rough.
Smith was a serial bigamist. He quickly charmed the ladies and married them. Some with means of their own so he can inherit after their death. Others who he took out a life insurance policy. They later drowned in the bath, made to look like an accidental death. One of his 'wives' suffered from 'brief blackouts.'
The case is framed with Smith standing trial for murder. He is defended by the legal heavyweight Edward Marshall-Hall (Richard Griffiths.)
I found the whole thing very vanilla. Smith meets a woman, she desires him and rapidly marries a man who she know nothing about. Her family are suspicious about him, his means and motives. After the wife dies. Her family only find out about the death, long after the coroner's verdict. By which time Smith is eyeing up his next victim or goes back to one of his wife that he has not killed.
The script is very meat and potatoes. The only flourish is a mother and daughter talking about Dr Crippen while Smith his drowning his wife upstairs.
The casting of Griffiths is all wrong for Marshall-Hall.
The true story of George Joseph Smith was a star vehicle for Martin Kemp. A period piece where he played a charming serial killer of not too bright women who wanted a bit of rough.
Smith was a serial bigamist. He quickly charmed the ladies and married them. Some with means of their own so he can inherit after their death. Others who he took out a life insurance policy. They later drowned in the bath, made to look like an accidental death. One of his 'wives' suffered from 'brief blackouts.'
The case is framed with Smith standing trial for murder. He is defended by the legal heavyweight Edward Marshall-Hall (Richard Griffiths.)
I found the whole thing very vanilla. Smith meets a woman, she desires him and rapidly marries a man who she know nothing about. Her family are suspicious about him, his means and motives. After the wife dies. Her family only find out about the death, long after the coroner's verdict. By which time Smith is eyeing up his next victim or goes back to one of his wife that he has not killed.
The script is very meat and potatoes. The only flourish is a mother and daughter talking about Dr Crippen while Smith his drowning his wife upstairs.
The casting of Griffiths is all wrong for Marshall-Hall.