Bad boy Guy Curran (James Callis) a bad boy and small time drug dealer met posh Leonora Chisholm (Josephine Butler) in the early 1990s when she was still in education.
Leonara liked the excitement of being around with Curran. She introduces him to his family and they are not so keen.
Things cooled off when Linus, one of Guy's crew dies from bee stings after taking drugs. After which the relationship cools and Guy disappeared.
Some years later Guy again meets Leonara. Now Guy is wealthy by getting involved in the art world and young artists.
Although Guy is involved with a beautiful model Celeste. He becomes obsessed with Leonara.
Guy shows unstable traits such as when he is mocked by Leonara's family. He erupts when Leonara later tells Guy that she plans to marry her boyfriend at a restaurant.
This is less a Ruth Rendell mystery and more a story of obsessive love.
This kind of thing is difficult to pull of and frankly it does not work as a three part series. This might have worked as a television movie.
It starts off brightly as Leonara likes the excitement and danger as Guy and his gang create havoc.
I think Leonara should have soon realised once Guy returned on the scene that he was unstable. Even the art story did not add up regarding Guy's new wealth.
It all ends up rather hysterically bad. James Callis's tantrums are laughable. This is only part one. Maybe there might be a murder in part two.
There is an element of The Great Gatsby about the story. The older Guy is initially dressed a little like Robert Redford who once played Gatsby.