Element of Doubt is an ITV crime thriller which is a twist on Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion.
Beth (Gina McKee) is a schoolteacher, she detests her wealthy stepmother. She is also married to the charming Richard (Nigel Havers.) Beth is his second wife, he was previously married to a glamourous wife in South Africa who made some serious accusations against her ex husband.
He is involved in a business venture with Kirk (Michael Jayston.) The latter suspects that Richard is going to usurp him on a land deal that he was meant to be negotiating on Kirk's behalf.
Indeed Richard has gone rogue. He needs to raise the cash soon to buy the land outright in his own name.
Beth has been suspicious previously about her husband. He might be cheating on her, he has a habit of disappearing suddenly. Richard has had previous failed business ventures.
When Beth's stepmother dies in a car accident. Beth suspects that Richard was involved somehow in staging it. Now she has inherited her stepmother's money, Beth fears that she will be his next victim.
As a television movie, this was badly paced. It starts off slowly but Havers plays Richard as a plausible rogue who might just have the best of intentions for Beth.
It does pick up a pace after Richard shows his real colours but by then it gets too far fetched. It is never that thrilling.
