This will have you shouting at the screen when the film ends, enraged at the treatment handed out to Bentley, a pawn if ever there was one, in Britain's legal system before the abolition of the death penalty.
Forget the fluffiness of his brief Doctor Who career, Ecclestone really gets his teeth in to the role and excels in this as the victim (it could be argued that he was just as much a victim as the murdered police officer), of a gross miscarriage of justice. Tom Courtney gives a fantastic performance as Derek's father, a man who seems even right up to the end, to have an almost blinkered belief that the criminal justice system will not let his family down.
With Christie (10 Rillington Place), the story has a sly, conniving, unrepentant murderer at its heart. With this, the actual murderer is almost regarded as of a secondary importance due to legal technicalities and it's his unwitting accomplice that carries the can as the establishment strives to bring someone, anyone,… more »

This will have you shouting at the screen when the film ends, enraged at the treatment handed out to Bentley, a pawn if ever there was one, in Britain's legal system before the abolition of the death penalty.
Forget the fluffiness of his brief Doctor Who career, Ecclestone really gets his teeth in to the role and excels in this as the victim (it could be argued that he was just as much a victim as the murdered police officer), of a gross miscarriage of justice. Tom Courtney gives a fantastic performance as Derek's father, a man who seems even right up to the end, to have an almost blinkered belief that the criminal justice system will not let his family down.
With Christie (10 Rillington Place), the story has a sly, conniving, unrepentant murderer at its heart. With this, the actual murderer is almost regarded as of a secondary importance due to legal technicalities and it's his unwitting accomplice that carries the can as the establishment strives to bring someone, anyone, to book to assuage public anger. An exceptional film that tells a grim tale with sobering forcefulness.

Before I saw this film I was all for bringing back the death penalty in Britain, now I can see why it was abolished with a justice system like we have in this country. After I first saw this film a couple of years ago when I was still in school, it left me shocked to say the least and really mellowed my views on capital punishment. I watched it again last night and towards the end I was in tears, I couldn't believe how braindead parliament must've been to have hung Derrick as he was clearly innocent. And to think that they had no interest in re-analysing the sentence until after it was carried out is beyond belief.

As a result of seeing this film, even more so after the second time, I see little reason to reintroduce capital punishment. The justice system today isn't any more logical than it was over 50 years ago when this film is set. Anyway, the acting is superb and this film really seems to follow what is a true story very well. And considering that this was made in the… more »

Before I saw this film I was all for bringing back the death penalty in Britain, now I can see why it was abolished with a justice system like we have in this country. After I first saw this film a couple of years ago when I was still in school, it left me shocked to say the least and really mellowed my views on capital punishment. I watched it again last night and towards the end I was in tears, I couldn't believe how braindead parliament must've been to have hung Derrick as he was clearly innocent. And to think that they had no interest in re-analysing the sentence until after it was carried out is beyond belief.

As a result of seeing this film, even more so after the second time, I see little reason to reintroduce capital punishment. The justice system today isn't any more logical than it was over 50 years ago when this film is set. Anyway, the acting is superb and this film really seems to follow what is a true story very well. And considering that this was made in the early 90s, it doesn't even look dated like a number of films from around that time do now, perhaps because it was already set in the past from the moment it came out. Furthermore it's a rather emotional film, like I said, it really had me in tears watching it again, if you're anywhere near as soft as I am it'll probably have the same effect on you. It's a real tearjerker.

In short, a brilliant drama and I would especially recommend it to any of the "bring back capital punishment" types. I challenge you to watch it without being touched and reconsider your views on the death penalty.