"Strong Poison" (1987) TV series

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Directors:

Christopher Hodson
Michael A. Simpson

Writers:

Dorothy L. Sayers (novel)
Philip Broadley (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 March 1987 (UK)

Plot:

Lord Peter Wimsey is struck all of a heap by Harriet Vane, a murder-mystery novelist who's on trial for poisoning her lover with arsenic...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel | Character Name In Title

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy.

Cast

Harriet Walter	...	Harriet Vane
Edward Petherbridge	...	Lord Peter Wimsey
Richard Morant	...	Bunter
Paul Hastings	...	Philip Boyes
Derek Royle	...	The Rev. Arthur Boyes
Geoffrey Beevers	...	Ryland Vaughan
Preston Lockwood	...	Judge
Ronald Leigh-Hunt	...	Sir Impey Biggs
Derek Ensor	...	Crofts
Christopher Scoular	...	Freddy Arbuthnot
David Quilter	...	Chief Inspector Charles Parker
Clive Francis	...	Norman Urquhart
Timothy Bateson	...	Pond
Shirley Cain	...	Miss Climpson
Norma Streader	...	Miss Murchison

Also Known As:

"A Dorothy L. Sayers Mystery: Strong Poison" (UK) (series title)

Runtime:

USA:153 min | 52 min (3 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Corpus Christi College, Merton Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

During rehearsals for the scene where Wimsey (Edward Petherbridge) and Climpson (Shirley Cain) have tea together, Wimsey's monocle fell into his tea. Despite numerous attempts, they could not recreate this hilarious incident for the camera.

Quotes:

Harriet Vane: Have I got this right? You are proposing marriage to me?
Lord Peter Wimsey: I don't positively repel you or anything like that, do I?

Movie Connections:

Followed by "Have His Carcase" (1987)

Pretty Nice Adaptation

I discovered Sayers' Peter Winsey stories, as many people in the US did, via the 1970s PBS series with Ian Carmichael in the title role for 5 novel adaptations. Very nice for the time (and still enjoyable in their DVD incarnation).

Went on to read the various Wimsey novels & short stories, only to discover, that in addition to numerous short stories and a couple weaker novels, there were 3 major novels in the series involving a love interest for Lord Peter: Harriet Vane, a mystery writer. Were these never to be filmed? Mr Carmichael was getting no younger! Then in the latter 1980s, they were released: _Strong Poison_, _Have his Carcase_, and _Gaudy Night_. Possibly due merely to the passage of time, the technical production of this latter set is simply much better. The sets look like what they are supposed to be, not like sets. And the annoying contrast between the video quality of real outdoor scenes - poor - and indoor (set) shots, so noticeable in the 70s stories is not evident in the later set. The characterization of Edward Petherbridge as Wimsey is also more true, I believe, to the majority of the Wimsey novels: He is a man supremely confident in his capabilities, but surprisingly vulnerable in many ways relating to WHO he is, especially in his relations to the lady. She is charmingly and assertively played by Harriet Walter, and I find no discrepancies in the way she plays the character when compared to the books. The director and scriptwriter for the latter set are also to be commended by the way they hint at much of the underlying personal turmoil, especially on Harriet Vane's part in the culminating _Gaudy_, without resorting to gimmicks such as added-on soliloquy or narrated voice-over. They, wisely I think, did not attempt to address Sayers' own conflict between the writing of 'detective novels' and writing serious academic material that was such an element of character Vane in the written _Gaudy_. It somewhat interfered with the novel and would have made the film a yawner.

I only regret -somewhat- the producers did not attempt to follow up with one additional Petherbridge-Walter production, _Busman's Honeymoon_, to give us one last chance at seeing Peter and Harriet Wimsey fully in harness and working together to forge a marriage and catch a crook. The 3 films from the 1980s are also available on DVD.