mweratcliffe I would vote lower and say that this was awful- however the acting and much of the production was excellent. Where this effort goes off track with me is the title Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution. It may have been based on or inspired by - but it is defiantly not her story. Miss Christie's story focused on the mystery surrounding the truth about whether or not a man had committed murder and just exactly who was telling the truth. This production focuses on a solicitor grieving the death of his son and how because of that grief he deluded himself into believing lies on all fronts. His delusions result in the freeing of the guilty the death of the innocent and even to his own suicide. This is a completely different story. Not a bad story but certainly one that did not require the complete bastardization of Miss Christie's original work to tell. Any effort that could have been made by the BBC to not delude the audience that this is Miss Christie's story would have been a help to this story - but the BBC chose not to make any effort in order to capitalize on the Christie name and draw an audience. Shame on the BBC. Badly done.

rebeccax5 This incredible version of the famous Witness for the Prosecution is completely mesmerizing. Atmospheric, spellbinding, surprisingly well done and eclipses the classic Billy Wilder film. Based on the A Christie short story not the play.The 1920's, post WWI brought to life with beautiful cinematography, great acting and seamless direction.Those panning this film must have been asleep at the wheel. For me, I was immediately caught up in the story, as If i'd never seen the Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton version. It was a big surprise and I've never appreciated A Christie as much. She was like a Alfred Hitchcock alter ego. The production value of this film was light years above the usual humdrum, A Chritie parlor mysteries.The film was offered as part of a free one week trial of "Acorn TV" on Amazon. Glad I stumbled onto it because I really needed to see something unexpectedly good tonight. Flipping through new films on Amazon or Netflix looked grim, but then this free trial popped up on Amazon..Rather than saying anything more specific about the performances which are stunning, that might lead to expectations let me just recommend seeing this devoid of expectations.

bob the moo Although difficult, I approached this BBC version of the story by trying to put the Billy Wilder one as far from my mind as possible. Of course that is not easy, and it is obvious from the get-go that this version is much different from the 1950's film of the same name. The way it comes through is very much in the grittiness and darkness of this version; there is no comedy lawyer, no light tone to draw you in – from the start it is a sordid relationship, a dirty piece of rough, stinking jail cells, and a lawyer servicing deadbeats for minimum wage. To be fair, maybe this is what it took to shake off the Wilder memory, because it is very dark throughout.In some ways this is a bad thing, but not many. The strength of this approach becomes clearer as the second part plays out (and this does play better with them back-to-back). The dark tone of everything is paid off with a tremendously impacting ending which not only hits the main mystery, but gives revelation and resolution to the main character too (okay based on an absurd coincidence, but I forgave it that). This had the added advantage of giving something for the viewer who already thought they knew it all, as well as justifying how dark everything had been up until that point. And it had been dark. Indeed, the first episode was almost tiresomely so – I found it to be a real drag as everything seemed aimed at showing how awful everything was. Like I said, this is justified in the end, but I still think it was laid on a bit heavy.In all areas this is the case, but the cinematography is the main one; it looks so murky to the point where it feels like the DOP slapped on an Instagram filter. It felt so heavy handed in this way that it did turn me off a little – and it seemed to highlight how hard everything else was trying to be down and dirty too. Jones' performance is the same in some ways; it works in the entirety, but for a while he feels like he is just playing to the lowest point in a deliberate way. He is still very good though, and the rest of the cast match him, with good turns from Riseborough, Howle, Cattrall, and Dolan (who has the darkest moments with her "not today thank you" denials). As a fan of Utopia, Ready was a surprise find in a small role.Overall this version initially seems to be overcompensating with its darkness at first, but in the end it is more than justified and works really well, even if it makes that first hour a bit harder to get through than it needed to be.

vicstevinson This version of Agatha Christie's WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION shakes off what can often be goofy about Christie's stories and treats the characters as fully-formed individuals in an historic setting. It's an impressive effort with a shocking cast who inhabit their characters.This is awards season in the U.S. and studios trot out their best efforts in a last minute bid to garner accolades. Were this a feature film, it would surpass many mega-budget films.Director Julian Jarrold -- THE CROWN (2016), BECOMING JANE (2007) and KINKY BOOTS (2005) -- utilizes the strong talent assembled and tells an intriguing story of characters and conflict.Billy Howle as the accused is convincing, constantly eye-catching, fully immersed and impressive. I've seen him in several other projects, including the miniseries GLUE, and he bares great vulnerability on screen, and it's believable.Toby Jones is reliable at being superior and nuanced, he is a huge asset to this series.Andrea Riseborough is enigmatic and surprising. I am accustomed to seeing her in contemporary dramas, and she delivers this character like placid waters with a shark circling beneath, ready to emerge and strike.This version is so satisfying and memorable, I'm almost dreading the big screen, and likely big budget, version coming from Ben Affleck in 2018. His Oscar-bait 2016 film LIVE BY NIGHT shows a love for period pulp, but an inability to stitch it together. This version of WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION should be the standard against which his is judged.