'Easing the passing' was how Bodkin-Adams liked to excuse the mass serial murders he got away with. That is symbolic of this story - smooth, unctuous, oily, lubricated with lies. The effect is heightened further by its location in 50's Eastbourne. Genteel widow country, with Palm Court orchestras playing, and crude accusations strictly unwelcome. Even the barrister starts by telling Adams "I don't want to upset you..." And the doctor himself is forever bringing God's mercy into the picture. It's enough to make some people feel like emptying a bucket over the whole smarmy lot of them.
No special genius was needed to fill the star role here; almost any bulky man with a convincing Irish accent would do, and the good stalwart Timothy West gives you your money's worth, as usual. Less convincing are the various widows, who put on a distinctly amateur show of senility, suggesting nothing of that dark cavern of the mind where so many of them dwell in tortured bewilderment. And Nigel Davenport, quite good as the detective, fails the "Er..." test, never easy. But that hesitation is bolted-on, not crafted-in.
Best of all are Venetia Barrett as the care-home nurse and Gillian Raine as the matron, who seems ready to spill rather a lot of beans, until she conveniently dies, just before the trial, while under Adams' care.
As for his surprise acquittal, you won't realise from this film that it had a lot to do with a top-level gay scandal that needed to be hushed-up (as with the long delay in arresting the Kray twins).
And the final irony? We now read about all manner of people queueing-up to pay for assisted suicide - or 'easing the passing' in the best tradition of the good doctor!
No special genius was needed to fill the star role here; almost any bulky man with a convincing Irish accent would do, and the good stalwart Timothy West gives you your money's worth, as usual. Less convincing are the various widows, who put on a distinctly amateur show of senility, suggesting nothing of that dark cavern of the mind where so many of them dwell in tortured bewilderment. And Nigel Davenport, quite good as the detective, fails the "Er..." test, never easy. But that hesitation is bolted-on, not crafted-in.
Best of all are Venetia Barrett as the care-home nurse and Gillian Raine as the matron, who seems ready to spill rather a lot of beans, until she conveniently dies, just before the trial, while under Adams' care.
As for his surprise acquittal, you won't realise from this film that it had a lot to do with a top-level gay scandal that needed to be hushed-up (as with the long delay in arresting the Kray twins).
And the final irony? We now read about all manner of people queueing-up to pay for assisted suicide - or 'easing the passing' in the best tradition of the good doctor!