The Picnic

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