Rillington Place: anyone watching?

Had a read up should have done that in the first place haha apparently Timothy had a tubercular foot as a child and missed vast amounts of schooling so could barely read and write

I agree totally Nfkdumpling death penskty has always been completely wrong in my eyes and look st the serial killers who have killed themselves in prison they don't like being in there with no means of carrying out the very thing that keeps them going

I didn't realise they had IQ tests in them there days ? I wonder if he had any schooling he certainly didn't come across as learning impaired in the play not the brightest button but not that limited either... IQ of 70 is pretty low isn't it

Evans' death does emphasise the case for not bringing back the death penalty so perhaps he didn't die completely for nothing. It was so awful. I've always felt that killing a murderer like Christie is too easy, too quick. They need to suffer and helped to come to realise what they've done - and suffer some more!

I think a lot of people then (and probably a lot of the police) had the same attitude as my parents. They couldn't see what all the fuss was about when Christie was revealed as the murderer. They thought that Evans could still have murdered his wife and child and if he was innocent it didn't matter because he wasn't important. There were a lot of things we disagreed about!

He had an IQ of 70 I read, think on the BBC website,and Christie's was 120+

Did Evans have learning difficulties then I must have missed that ?

I cannot abide the death penalty in any circumstances. Better to give them a good slap now and again for their sins. Otherwise, just keep them under lock and key.

The account I have just read Anniebach confirms as you say, that the police deliberately withheld information in order to secure Evans' conviction. How could they live with themselves knowing they sent an innocent man to his death? The account also says that children took a human skull found close to the Christie house to the police station and this was ignored. Bones were apparently lying only inches deep in the Cristie's garden. The account also states that it is quite probable that Evans' confession was given as a result of police brutality or even torture.

Even as a viewer you can see that Evans account of what happened didn't match up with the police findings. (the body in the drain etc) Surely this in itself should have made them question his guilt. I am so angry and sad. I wish I hadn't watched it now.

Evans was a vunerable person, people with learning difficulties are easy victims

I m really enjoying it now didn't get into the first episode until I had watched it again (I think I might have nodded off first time round) but yes it's good and well acted I too am quite annoyed by the accent change I can understand the explanations but I ve never heard it so black and white usually it will be a bit Welsh in England and a bit more Welsh when home but the distinct change in almost a day isn't likely My daughter has been in Ireland 15 years and although she uses colloquial sayings with a tinge you would always know she is English likewise my son in NZ 20 years, ... to me has a kiwi accent but to them over there he still has an English accent and it doesn't change when he comes home .... perhaps it would if he was home 6 months but not in three weeks Otherwise cracking drama
Evans made it a bit easy the way he confessed to everything

It was more than incompetence Gilly, evidence was withheld by the police

Gilly, there has been so many , I have joined many campaigns over the years , we must never, ever, reintroduce the death penalty

I have just read an account of the murders and cannot believe how absolutely incompetent the police were.

Good grief, wot I looked after reading your post, my book is signed by Ludovic Kennedy ,the author ,oooooooh

AsI said earlier I wasn't familiar with the story and wish (now that I know it was true that I hadn't watched it. I did guess what would happen to the poor baby though which makes the fact that it was true almost unbearable. Given that these miscarriages of justice do still occur I can't even begin to imagine what would happen if capital punishment was reintroduced. I want to watch the final part but wish I still believed it was a far fetched drama

Anniebach, I just looked for the book on Amazon. Have you seen the price of it??!! You've got a valuable item there!

He was about eleven when he moved from Wales, living in London possibly did cause him to want to speak like his friends, he did go back to Wales as an adult and worked in the pit but not for very long then left Wales again.

my daughters never lived in the valleys yet when with me they slip into a valleys accent, Evans mother must have had a valleys accent , so I can understand him slipping from one to another , not forgetting he did have problems with the truth

I know ab has explained, but Evans' accent is really bothering me. In the film, Hurt had a credible Welsh accent throughout. I can understand why someone brought up in an area different from that which they were born may change accent up to a point, but Evans goes from one broad accent to another completely different accent at will! People I know who've moved from South Wales soften their accents and/or pick up elements of their local one. They don't move from one to the other. And I think Welsh accents are difficult to lose.

Watched the first episode, good acting, not much dialogue! Found the 'set' far too dark and dank, the set of rooms wasn't fit for a dog to live in ( even though they did have a dog!)Christie as played by Roth was hardly a ladies man ( repellent) and was Ethel really such a doormat ?The street 'set' looked more akin to a theatre production.
That's my gripes over, won't be watching any more.

I have hunted out the book, Ten Rillington Place ,by Ludovic Kennedy , I recommend it if still in print. Evans did stay with his Aunt not his sister in Aberfan, the trial only lasted three days, Jury took under an hour to find him guilty , the chief witness was Christie , he was believed because he had been in the police , I think a special. Some evidence was withheld and the summing up by the judge was so against Evans he didn't stand a chance of justice

I must be too young to remember but I didn't realise it was a true story and now I wish I hadn't watched it ! I can't get over how rubbish the police were. I know there was no DNA then but surely they could see that the common denominator was Christie himself. That wife of his was almost as guilty as he was as she allowed it to carry on despite her suspicions.

I thought it was well done too. Tim Roth is so creepy and I thought it was evocative of the period.
I think it's good to remind people how miscarriages of justice can happen as absent said.

I think it is excellent viewing, based on fact obviously with some licence, as most of these things are. Last night in particular, the tension was upheld for the whole hour, and personally I was exhausted. Looking at the way people lived (and I remember that) and how things were done, thank goodness we have moved on.

I am finding this soooo trying to watch. Tim Roth's Christie is one of the creepiest characters I've seen on tv for a good while. I didn't see the Attenborough film, but somehow see him as too 'cuddly' for Christie! As to Evans' accent, DH has not lived in Wales for donkeys years but every time he goes home, even now, I can hear his accent creeping back in again!

absent very good point .
After watching last nights episode, I think The Attenborough film was much more accurate . I know Tim Evans was Welsh and wondered why his accent kept changing !