The Widower

I had no idea this was based on a true story - I thought it was fantastic, I love Pemberton, 3 episodes was the perfect length. The dynamic between the families, police, and law enforcement agencies was sufficiently believable (albeit, it is based on a true story), the performance of Pemberton was also pretty Lex Luther-esque.

Like others, i was sceptical of predominantly dark comedian Reece Shearsmith being the lead and the series being taken seriously but as it progresses its a good fit because he excels at playing the mild, quiet, almost comical but extremely creepy characters which many serial killers are.

The only weakness is the actresses cast as the wives are a bit too attractive to seem a credible match for such a nerdish character, especially the last wife who also seems incredibly naive for a professional doctor and not delving deeper into his fraudulent cancer diagnosis as well as moving a complete stranger into her house against her boyfriend's wishes.

Malcolm Webster, found a formula for satisfying his craving for money, by doing away with his wives, based on a true story, this three part series tells the chilling story of Webster.

I think this is a terrific series, first time I have watched it since it first aired, and it's as impressive as I remember. It get better and better as it develops, the third episode was my favourite.

Some of the events are a little hard to believe, you will be left scratching your head, how on Earth did he get away with things for so long, but he did.

Excellent acting, Kate Fleetwood and Archie Panjabi are particularly good, but Shearsmith is outstanding, this is the best of him as far as I can see, he is so good.

Well worth watching. 9/10.

I have been viewing this story as a TV mini-series here in New Zealand, where it made significant news due to relevant local connections.

Whilst I cannot fault the work of the principal actors/actresses in the story, I do feel that a number of liberties have been taken in its production, leading it somewhat askew from the details of the events as they actually occurred.

I refer here to the attempted murder of Ms. Drumm - Webster's second wife, in New Zealand, in 1999. From my recollection of the incident, the couple were driving in to the bank at which point Webster veered the car over two or three lanes of motorway before the car left the road as he pretended to be having a heart attack, not as the movie portrayed it, which involved parking up at a forest park where Webster was intending to torch the vehicle with Ms. Drumm inside.

A further anomaly here is the funds Webster misappropriated from Ms. Drumm's account. The story clearly portrayed the amount of funds in the account as $240,000, yet in historical news reports this is stated as $140,000.

I recall reading somewhere that some of the key witnesses were consulted prior to the making of this drama, so why did the production team find it so necessary to distort the facts in a case that will be remembered by so many for the events portrayed on-screen moreso than those given in the distantly remembered media coverage?

True life story which follows a mans hunger for greed ! Great acting & because it's a true story it'll leave you stunned at what lengths he will go to , to get what he wants .