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The Picnic

by BBC (Screen Two)

Synopsis

Margie is a middle-aged schoolteacher who takes one of her pupils, Ray, as her second husband.

Ray is about half Margie’s age, athletic, impulsive and semi-illiterate: an unknown quantity. We first meet the couple on their wedding day and their relationship develops as they sweetly and playfully discover more about each other. But as the weeks unfold the difference in age and class begin to take their toll. When a local prostitute is savagely murdered Margie can’t stop the dreadful irrational feeling that her husband might be responsible.

As with the best thrillers the audience is kept half a step ahead of the protagonist. The bleak and cold Fenland exteriors create a landscape that is as threatening as distant thunder and the open ending is a heartstopper.

Reviews

Another finely scripted, directed and acted production for the BBC Screen 2 series.

Credits

Billie Whitelaw
Margie
Iain Glen
Ray
Brenda Fricker
Ray’s mother
Sarah Jane Holm
Della
Cassie Stuart
Ruth
Phil Smeeton
Mick
Jimmy Yuill
Man at dyke
Julie Mcdonald
Prostitute
Ross Kemp
Police officer
Trevor Peake
Police officer
Robert Peters
Reporter
Joan Spall
Registrar
Peter Whitbread
Inspector Cartwright
Chris Poole
Kerb crawler
Simon Wakefield
Boy fishing
Director
Paul Seed
Writer
Lesley Bruce


Photos


Another finely scripted, directed and acted production for the BBC Screen 2 series.