The Christie Case

[contrafib]

That Rillington Place drama with Tim Roth is on the November schedules

[John Wheat]

That Rillington Place drama with Tim Roth is on the November schedules

Thanks contrafib

I'm looking forward to it.

Cheers John

[Sherlock]

The new Rillington Place BBC drama will air on November 29th.

[Sherlock]

Just watched the first episode of the BBC's Rillington Place.

It is perhaps too early to make a fair judgement on the serial but I would have to say that my first impression was that, although it worked well as a crime drama, it should not be seen as a factual reconstruction of the case as it contains too many historical errors.

Perhaps the most glaring error is the fact that when Timothy Evans appeared briefly at the end of the programme he spoke with a London accent when he was a Welshman! At least John Hurt managed a reasonably good Welsh accent in the 1971 film.

In one scene Christie arrives home in his wartime police uniform with a bloody face after being attacked. He tells his wife Ethel that someone at the police station had beaten him up after accusing him of carrying on with his wife. This is obviously a reference to the affair he had with a female employee at Harrow Road police station which Ludovic Kennedy stated had happened in 1943. However, due to the research of Honest John we now know that Christie was actually attacked by the irate husband after the end of the war in 1947, after he unexpectedly arrived home on leave from the RAF and found Christie with his wife.

We also see Reg and Ethel going to the cinema with Muriel Eady and her gentleman friend and later having tea with them at 10 Rilllington Place. This is possibly correct as Christie stated that he and Ethel had gone out with Muriel and her man friend on several occasions prior to her murder. However, her friend later apppears at the door and asks both Ethel and Reg if they have seen Muriel as he was supposed to meet her and she has not turned up. He then spots Muriel's coat hanging up in the hall; Ethel immediately tells him that it belongs to her as she bought a similar one to Muriel's. Reg and the boyfriend then leave the house on a fruitless search for Muriel, and Reg mentions that there have been flying bomb attacks that day.

It is true that it was considered possible that Muriel had perished in a flying bomb attack, but her murder took place while Ethel was visiting her relatives in Sheffield and was therefore out of the way. Moreover, Muriel had apparently not told her aunt with whom she lived that she was going to meet Christie, only that she would not be late home, and there is no record that Muriel's boyfriend ever went to 10 Rillington Place in search of her, or had arranged to meet her on the day of her murder.

Later Reg grabs Ethel by the throst and nearly chokes her in a fit of temper. She then goes to visit her relatives in the north to get away from him and tells them what has happened. She later returns accompanied by her brother, which did actually happen, but there is no record that she ever told her brother or sister that Reg had assaulted her.

My impression was that Tim Roth played Christie in much the same way as Richard Attenborough did, even using a very similar voice.

What did other contributors think of this first episode?

[miss marple]

There were inaccuracies, the implication that Ethel 'knew ' about his disposition and was covering up for Christie by saying Muriel 's coat was hers is not fair on poor old Ethel who apparently was not the brightest button in the box and got murdered anyway.The writers seem to be playing up Ethel's role because it makes better drama. Its not a documentary, anyway Samatha Morton's performance was superb.
Tim Roth was very creepy and sinister as Christie, more so than Attenborough, I cant imagine any female coming within 500 yards of him without being repulsed. He must have given a better impression that that to get women into his flat.
Quite enjoyed it though.

Miss Marple

[caz]

I agree, Miss Marple. To be fair it was always going to need added fictionalised content to tell the story from Ethel's point of view in this first of three parts, since we can't possibly know what went on between the couple when no witnesses were present. We will never know what - if anything - Ethel really knew or suspected about her husband, nor what possessed her to stay with him and keep his seedy secrets to herself if she was aware. But it wouldn't have made a very good drama if the writers had left her in blissful ignorance of what was going on, nor would that have been terribly convincing. If the real Ethel was not a complete fool, she was very possibly in denial. And I think the drama helped reflect that. Reg went on to kill her so the scene where he half choked her was realistic. If she was frightened of him she would not be the first wife to stay in the marriage, or return to it, and not breathe a word about any abuse.

Love,

Caz
X

[Jon Guy]

I have to say I thought it was gut wrenching to see Tim hand over his little Geraldine to Christie, knowing what we know.

Roth`s creepy performance is growing on me now, and actor, Nico Mirallegro puts in an excellent turn as Evans, a stronger performance than John Hurt`s rather hysterical portrayal, with Mirallegro`s character switching back into his Welsh accent when speaking to his Welsh relatives.
Which was clever, as Evans did move to London when he was ten.

Good stuff !!

[Sherlock]

Indeed! Although I do not think it impossible that Evans did murder his wife and child as some writers on the case do, I think it is equally possible that Christie was responsible. I think he was certainly devious enough to tell Evans the story about putting Beryl's body down a drain and knowing a couple in East Acton who could look after Geraldine. As I think I have said before, Christie worked at Ultra Radio in East Acton in the later part of the war, which may have put the area into his head. Also, why would Evans tell the police in Wales that Beryl was in the drain if he did not genuinely believe that this was the case? He must surely have realised that the first thing the police would do would be to check the drain?

It is interesting that we have not yet seen Christie actually commit a murder in the serial, but it is instead implied that he has done so. We may see this in the final episode when Christie goes into meltdown after the trial and execution of Evans. I think that Tim Roth is probably even more sinister as Christie than Richard Attenborough was in the film. His attack on his wife in the first episode shows him to be a vicious, deranged and dangerous individual.

[caz]

It is interesting that we have not yet seen Christie actually commit a murder in the serial, but it is instead implied that he has done so.

There's a good reason for that, Sherlock. The first episode was from Ethel's point of view and the second from Tim Evans's. We have to assume that Christie never let either see him in the act.

The final part should be particularly chilling, as it will be from Christie's own point of view.

Love,

Caz
X

[Parker_Pyne79]

Have you been watching Rillington Place on BBC One with Tim Roth and Samantha Morton? If not I highly recommend it.

Good luck with your book and I'd love to read it when you are finished.

All the best,

Parker

[Sherlock]

Looking forward to the final episode on Tuesday. I will get the book finished at some point!

I feel it is a pity that the serial hasn't included one or two flashbacks to Christie's youth so as to give us some idea of why he became a murderer in the first place, such as the cruelty of his father, the domination by his elder sisters and the ridicule he suffered after his first attempt at sex. I have attempted to explore these issues in my own writing on the case.

[contrafib]

I wrote this a few years ago after reading the John Newton Chance book about Rillington Place.

see what you think

'Review of 'The Crimes At Rillington Place: A Novelist's Reconstruction' by John Newton Chance

I've just read with great interest John Newton Chance's 'The Crimes At Rillington Place'. Chance was a very profilic and versatile writer and here he provides a 'novelist's reconstruction' of what he believed were the events at the famous address. First of all, i should say that Chance is undoubtedly a good writer and has a skill at creating a visual image of scenes and conveying the feelings of his characters.

For those who don't know the book, and treating it as a novel, it's mainly the story of Tim and Beryl, with Mr and Mrs Christie as supporting characters in a sorry saga. Tim is a dreamer and a fantasist, a simpleton who has a child's instinct for his own wants and needs and lacks the maturity to see reality as it actually is, particularly in times of stress. He likes the simple pleasures of the pub, not least after long days at work, and has a type of religious faith that 'things will be alright for Tim'. Beryl is 'a strong woman' but also young and naive, and possibly has a bit of the party spirit about her. She copes badly with the responsibility of having a child, and her second pregnancy and the prospect of 'the relentless forward march of nature' bringing another mouth to feed and the permanent prison-like existence she sees as the future, lead her to a deep despair. Mr Christie is a sickly man with constant ailments, at least partly psychosomatic, who lives under the constant shadow of someone discovering his 2 secrets buried in the garden. He can't move house or even leave the house for too long and so he shares the sense of being trapped. He spends a lot of time in the garden, in a sense guarding his secret, often looking out at the world outside, 'meditating' (though not in the formal sense. I think musing might have been a better word). He makes frequent reference to his former life as a policeman and seems to be a man who 'knows things'. He also has a religious sensibility, occasionally reciting the Lord's prayer quietly to himself. Mrs Christie is passive, a kind soul and concerned about her husband's health. Her husband is occasionally sharp with her. Geraldine....cries a lot! i.e. does what babies do, though perhaps portrayed as not particularly passive.

Chance gives us a picture of people struggling in a cramped house with little money, (in the words of John Eddowes) 'living lives of deprivation hard to imagine from the perspective of today'. In Chance's story, Beryl becomes hysterical and nags Tim continuously until his head rattles. She also starts to attack him physically and he seems in fear of her, Chance rather exaggeratedly having Tim thinking that he should kill her before she kills him. Conversations are quoted from real statements or imagined, and one of the more bizarre early on is Christie vaguely telling Evans he should frighten Beryl with a rope, and then denying it later. Evans tells lies so often that he can't remember when he's lied or told the truth. As for the murders, Evans kills his wife on Tuesday 8th November 1949 with a rope that he had at work, and then kills Geraldine on the same day, not 2 days later, when her loud, piercing crying also starts to tear his head apart. Christie involves himself and protects Evans, seemingly to Evans as a kind, neighbourly act, and Evans only starts to blame Christie when he convinces himself that it is somehow Christie's fault (anything to avoid blaming himself). Chance's descriptions of the strain on Evans, his wife's hysteria and his befuddled mind do make the murders seem plausible and even understandable (if not justifiable)'

[Honest John]

Appalling travesty

The 1970 film was not great; this one seems to be aiming to be a poor remake.

Evans' character has been given the whitewash treatment; Ethel covers up a murder and Christie is a simple jekll and hyde personna. There are numerous omissions, speculations and errors of fact. To name a few:

Ethel and Christie were reunited in 1934 not 1938; he was not living in 10 RP before they were reunited. No mention of the break up of Ethel's romance preceding their reunion. Ethel's brother was a bachelor and was in his mid 50s in 1944. Muriel was never from Croydon and a scene from 1953 is borrowed for the 1944 scene. Waddington returned with Ethel in 1943 not 1944. Ethel covers up a murder and sees bloodstaining - since Muriel was strangled there'd be none. Christie being beaten up is misdated and the scene gets it wrong. No evidence Christie laid a finger on Ethel prior to 1952. Christie took up a job at Ultra the day after he left the police not some time later as implied here. No evidence Ethel was a typist in London.

Evans and his wife are far to smart and well dressed - really, on low wages when clothing was rationed? Evans is far too polite and well mannered; doing housework and never laying a finger on his wife nor threatening her nor Lucy - he naturally doesn't have an affair with her. His drinking is toned down and his temper only appears after his arrest; in real life it was the other way round (typical psychopath behaviour). His second statement is shown here as factually correct and Christie is around when he returns; he was at the doctors. Evans sees his wife's neck but we aren't allowed to and he's happy in Wales just after his allegedly beloved wife is dead (both pointers to his guilt but not explored). Evans learns of the death of Geraldine before arriving back at London; he's not shown confessing outside the questioning room, and the full nature of his confessions is played down. Christie never directly accused Evans as here. No Matheson or Hume.

I could go on about the teddy bear, Welsh accents etc.

The third part will doubtless see more nonsense including as already shown pleading innocence on the scaffold - entirely groundless stuff. As Christmas Humphreys said, 'It is all nonsense. It is bosh!'


A wasted opportunity to present a version contrary to the pro-Evans case.

[Sherlock]

I also noted all the inaccuracies pointed out by Honest John.

I also noted that Muriel Eady was portrayed as fairly glamorous in the first episode, whereas in reality she was rather plain if the only known photograph of her which appears in crime publications is anything to go by. Possibly her portrayal by Phyllis McMahon in the 1971 film was slightly more accurate in that respect.

Although Muriel apparently had a man friend whom she took to tea with the Christies on several occasions, there is no evidence that he ever went to 10 Rillington Place to look for her when she went missing, or that she had arranged to meet him on the day she was last seen alive, which was at her aunt's house in Putney and not Croydon as was stated in the programme. It was Alexander Baker, the boyfriend of Hectorina Maclennan, who came to the house in search of her after her murder by Christie in 1953 when she failed to turn up.

Interestingly, Evans's story that he had got a job with the De Havilland aircraft company was referred to in the second episode; this was first mentioned by John Eddowes in The Two Killers of Rillington Place. He is also seen telling Beryl that her place was at home looking after the baby and not going out with Lucy Endicott, which I think was also true. His switching between a broad London acccent and a Welsh one according to whom he is speaking just seems absurd if I am honest. Although he lived in London for some years I think it unlikely that he would have entirely lost his Welsh accent in that time.

I am not absolutely certain but I think that Ethel did work as a typist in London for some time, I think in Osram's lightbulb factory if Ludovic Kennedy's book is corrrect, which is not always the case.

It would be interesting to know what sources the writers used for their material. They do not seem to have studied Honest John's book, unfortunately, and they have probably not looked at any of the material available for reference in the National Archives. They do seem to have liased with Evans's surviving family, which meant that the serial was always going to assume his innocence of the crimes for which he was convicted.

I am in two minds concerning Evans's guilt or innocence, but on the whole I feel that there are far too many historical errors in the serial for it to be entirely satisfactory. I accept that it is not a documentary, but it is still very misleading for those not familiar with the case, although it could be argued that it works fairly well purely as a piece of semi-fictional drama.

It will still be interesting to watch the final episode when we finally get to see Christie commit a murder.

[Sherlock]

It seems that Beryl Evans also had a brother named Peter and a sister named Pat as well as her brother Basil.

In an article in the Sunday Mirror Beryl's brother who is named Peter Mylton-Thorley has stated that he wishes the bodies of Beryl and Geraldine to be exhumed from Gunnersbury Roman Catholic cemetery and re-interrred in a Jewish cemetery as Beryl was in fact Jewish herself. He also states that he would sometimes visit Beryl at 10 Rillington Place and if she was out he would have a cup of tea and a sticky bun with the Christies until she returned. He states that he was working in New Zealand at the time Beryl was murdered and did not discover her grave until 2003.

This is certainly interesting information as I had no idea that Beryl was Jewish. As far as I am aware this has never been mentioned previously in any book or article about the case and so it cannot have been widely known. I was also unaware that Beryl had another brother and a sister as well as her brother Basil. The article has a picture of Beryl as a child with her brothers Peter and Basil and her sister Pat, as well as as a recent picture of Basil, Peter and Pat as adults and another of Peter with his wife.

This is all very intriguing. I would assume that Beryl was originally buried in a Catholic cemetery as her husband was Catholic and Geraldine may possibly have been given a Catholic baptism. At the same time it is difficult to understand why Peter did not discover Beryl's grave until 2003 as it's location had been mentioned in several accounts of the case previously, including Forty Years of Murder by Keith Simpson published in the 1970s. Basil also stated that it had taken many years to discover Beryl's grave when he appeared in a documentary a couple of years or so ago.

Surely Beryl's family would have been notified of her place of burial when her funeral took place? If they were not, then why not? Why did they not make enquiries at the time of her death? This is yet another mystery arising from the cases of Christie and Evans.