The Blackheath Poisonings (WGBH)

 

Picture: C     Sound: B-     Extras: C-     Episodes: C+

 

 

In another mystery story appearing on the PBS/WGBH series Masterpiece Theater (versus the seemingly more logical Mystery!), two families involved in the early years of the toy business find murder surfacing between them and everyone is a suspect in The Blackheath Poisonings (1992).  As much soap opera as mystery genre, a classy sudster, but one just the same.

 

People love this kind of thing, and it would only show up on PBS, but the results are mixed.  The families in question are The Vandervents and The Collards are both a bit dysfunctional and all jockeying for position as the death means transfers of wealth and/or power for several of the principles involved.  The question is, who would want one of the higher-ups in the family dead?  Will the answer make the identity of the killer or killers that easy to surmise?  Is their a more diabolical scheme going on?  Those who might hope to see more about toys will be disappointed, while the mystery angle is not upfront as much as fans of that kind of fiction might wish for.

 

Judy Parfitt (who hosts the three parts) leads a British cast that is very good and convincing of the family conflict at hand.  Needless to say, the poisonings continue, which finally gets the story moving past the halfway point.  For the rest, that will be up to the viewer who wants to take on the 180 minutes.  For this critic, it goes on longer than it should, not dragging, but just feeling more stretched out than it needed to be.  Christine Kavanaugh, Ian McNeice, Zoe Wanamaker, Patrick Malahide and Christien Anholt also star.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image is softer than usual for a recent DVD and even for a TV production of its age.  It is certainly a sumptuous production on the design and costume front, but the softness is disappointing.  Color is not bad.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has just enough Pro Logic surrounds to place one more into the mini-series, but just.  Extras are few and include a weblink, text cast list and some cast filmographies.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo