Frances Tuesday (TV Movie 2004) Poster

(2004 TV Movie)

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4/10
Starts poorly and gets worse
ikanboy14 June 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I was hoping Tamzin Outhwaite would have chosen better trash than this. It's British TV at it's dimmest. There is plenty of bad writing, with no thought as to how stupid the development of the plot is, and it is all so predictable. The plot has promise, but not in these people's hands! Tamzin is the girlfriend of master criminal Pilgrim. She is his book keeper and computer whiz and a "special" branch of the police want her to defect and tell all. Except Tamzin, who has access to her Boyfriend's computer, has never caught on, or wondered about, why there are access denied areas. Until the police talk to her and then of course she's curious. Does she do some sleuthing on her own. No! The silly woman starts to ask her boyfriend questions that are going to get her killed.

So the police devise a plan to fake her death, have her face changed, and ship her off to Stockholm. But before that she brazenly copies the "relevant files" (she has no way of getting to the incriminating ones, remember!), and boogieing down a steep staircase with the bodyguard right behind her, and escapes, yes, in the nick of time.

Boyfriend goes to jail, Tamzin has his baby, gives it up - for the baby's sake - and then disappears, apparently killed off in a car accident set up by one of the partners of the good cop.

Needless to say boyfriend gets out of jail, courtesy of the head of the "special branch", and in exchange for "grassing" his buddy's in crime, is allowed to see his child. Tamzin gets wind of this and roars in to London, looking a lot less attractive than outgoing Tamzin - black wig, false teeth, big nose, but same old voice and accent! Boyfriend of course has the child kidnapped in broad daylight with cops looking on aghast. Do they arrest him? No! Do they put him under surveillance? No! Do they tell Tamzin to chill? Yes! Does she chill, hell no! The woman who abandoned her child is now a woman with a mission: save her daughter from the fiend. So what does she do? Of course she waltzes into his house, and of course he is none the wiser.She rifles through his desk and is caught. Does he do anything? No, he lets her leave.

All the way through this everything is dependent upon everybody being dense. For example the woman cop who sets up Tamzin's "death" pretends to turn bad, and offers to kill off Tamzin in exchange for money. Two years later, there she is waltzing into the bad guys house with a search warrant and he doesn't put two and two together! The bad guy gets out of prison after 2 years, and his buddy's start being grassed, and no-one is the wiser! Except his trusty bodyguard who takes his word that he's on the up an up! There is one minor saving grace at the end when Tamzin's character is allowed, after going through the obligatory scene of holding a gun on the bad guy and then letting him almost take it away, to kill him. But wait we still don't have a clue where he is hiding the child! No matter! Off she trots into the sunset, motherly instincts rewarded. I wonder if she'll tell the little darling that she killed Daddy?
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10/10
Brilliant! SPOILERS!!!
Alicia1236 October 2004
Warning: Spoilers
What an absolutely fantastic 2 part drama. The cast were excellent, especially Tamzin Outhwaite. The storyline was realistic and believable. Frances' reaction to her friend Shaun's severed head (well i'm guessing that's what it was, it was left to our imaginations) gift wrapped in that box was brilliant - well acted. Lucas was pure evil and I felt so sorry for Frances being wrapped up in his "business" and having to give up her daughter and of course her identity and looks to protect herself from him and his mob.

The first half saw Tamzin as her gorgeous, glamorous self, and then the second half with a brown wig, fake nose and false teeth, Tamzin was un-recognizable. I loved Frances in the second part, the way she'd do anything to get her daughter back. I was on the edge of my seat when she caught up with Terry and Lucas, and when she went on a "date" with Lucas at his house I thought he'd recognise her by her voice or something for sure! The ending was great, i'm so glad it was a happy one with Frances managing to get her daughter back. And I was backing her all the way when she shot evil Lucas!

I love Tamzin's work, she is a fantastic actress. I look forward to her next project.

I give Frances Tuesday 10/10.
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8/10
Excellent 2 part mini-series
MagicStarfire9 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
8 stars out of 10

This would have gotten 10 stars from me if they had allowed the two main leads to have a romantic involvement. I was bitterly disappointed that did not occur. I am speaking of the handsome, tough, charismatic, sexy, black detective called Trent(Lennie James), and the heroine, Frances West (Tamzin Outhwaite).

As usual, in these situations, I always wonder if racism was the reason. I didn't detect any other racism during the film - but I can't help but feel if Trent and Frances had both been white there would have been a romance.

Anyway, despite the lack of a romance, this is a very well done, fast-paced mystery with plenty of depth and detail.

The story revolves around a young woman, Frances West, who comes to the realization that her boyfriend, Lucas Pilgrim (Douglas Henshall)is a heinous criminal of the worse sort.

Douglas Henshall, by the way, reminded me quite a lot of another fine British actor I've always liked, Michael Caine.

A law enforcement group referred to as "the shop" are out to try to nail Lucas, and Trent, the afore-mentioned detective, tries to convince Frances of how terrible Lucas' crimes are. Finally he succeeds.

This greatly endangers Frances, and aided by the ever-faithful Trent, she goes to great lengths to escape Lucas' clutches.

However, she has a baby by Lucas and that changes the whole picture.

The baby, Sarah, is placed with a couple, and Frances reluctantly leaves England.

But then Lucas is released from prison in exchange for information about others in the organization, and he suddenly gets a notion to be "Daddy." Apparently as part of the deal Lucas makes with "the shop", he is being allowed visitation with Sarah. During the visitation, Sarah is suddenly kidnapped.

Frances is convinced Lucas is behind the kidnapping and she is determined to rescue her daughter. In order to do so, she has to go back into Lucas' lair.

Even though she has had plastic surgery and changed her looks completely and Lucas thinks she was killed two years ago -- it is a dangerous undertaking. Anything, her voice, a gesture--could give her way.

There were many tense moments in the film that had me on the edge of my seat screaming.

I highly recommend this mini-series.
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