trish-fowlie Review of In Plain Sight

In Plain Sight (2016)

A name that still sends shivers down my spine.

[10/10 · 27 January 2019]

When I was 6, Peter Manuel was hanged. I can still picture the front page of the newspaper that day, with a photo of him wearing the type of raincoat ubiquitous among Scotsmen (and probably more widely). It was a time of nightmares for adults and children alike in Southwest Scotland! This drama also focuses on the police investigations and his family's collusion. The acting is excellent and 1950s Scotland is authentically shown, down to the carpets. I should know. Even though I knew about his callous murders, I found tears in my eyes occasionally. Fortunately the gory horrors and violence are suggested, rather than gloated over, but the evil, vain, superficially charming personality of an intelligent psychopath is well acted, except the cold, subtly threatening eyes aren't quite there: hard for any normal human, even a good actor, to replicate. If you've ever had the misfortune to meet someone like this, as I have a few times, you'll know what I mean. At 6, I was glad he'd been hanged, but soon after I had recurring dreams of my uncle being hanged for crimes he'd not done - as might have happened to someone in the film, and did happen to Timothy Evans in those times, and I have detested capital punishment ever since.