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WIDOWER, THE

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The Widower, a three part story from PBS took me by surprise. At first when I read the total time of 180 minutes, I thought to myself - 3 hours let me get ready.

I enjoyed the beautiful photography of Scotland and New Zealand. I am glad that the film was in 3 parts. After viewing Part 1, the suspense made me want to continue to watch.

The actors, especially Reece Shearshmith as Malcom are very good and you believe them. Although Malcom's actions to me are hard to believe.

The Widower is based on a true story about Malcom Webster(Reece Shearsmith), classified as a sociopath who charmed, married and killed his first wife, Claire (Sheridan Smith).

In the beginning of the film, at their wedding, Malcom was very convincing as he professes his love to Claire in front of the entire wedding party. As they begin their life, Malcom starts to plot his deed. He starts spending money on things that Claire feels unnecessary. Malcom buys an expensive clock and two expensive breed of puppies. When Claire begins to show opposition, Malcom begins to poison her slowly with a drug that he steals from the hospital where he works as a nurse.

Slowly Malcom weakens Claire with his "nice cup of tea" and urging her to keep hydrated with the poisonous water he prepares for her. Malcom manages to kill Claire by setting fire to their car and fabricates a story about a mysterious motorcyclist who ran them off the road. Malcom moves to New Zealand and meets Felicity (Kate Fleetwood) who becomes his second wife.

Malcom convinces Felicity that she helps him find love again after the death of his first wife Claire. They marry and Malcom begins immediately on their wedding night to again use his poisoning technique with tea and water. He manages to keep her groggy and she suffers from unexplained weakness and blackout. Malcom stops his madness when he learns that Felicity is pregnant. After the baby is born, he resumes his mission to again become a widower and this time he will have a child and money.

The suspense has me on the edge of me seat, will Malcolm get away with killing Felicity too? The film is suspenseful and shows the deviousness and callousness of Malcom as he leaves Felicity with her money and returns to Scotland and seeks a new wealthy woman to marry, kill and make himself a "widower" again. Malcom, a real charmer is able to convince people that he is not doing anything wrong. While it is based on a true story, I know that parts of the story are different from the real story. The Widower is filled with suspense and unbelievable actions of a sociopath, who is also fascinated with fires and is willing to do what he needs to do in order to get what he wants.

This movie is for audience over 18 years old.

Malcolm Webster (Reece Shearsmith) is, on the surface, a perfect British gentleman. Well-spoken, personable, and oozing with charm, he marries his first wife, Claire Morris (Sheridan Smith), in 1993. However, a year after her dream wedding, Claire is dead the apparent victim of a tragic road accident. Four years later, a broke Webster starts anew in New Zealand with his second wife, Felicity, who helps him to find love again. But on their wedding night she feels groggy, and for the next year suffers from unexplained blackouts.

This chilling true story tells how Felicity pieces small clues together before finally realizing that the death of Webster's first wife might not have been an accident. After Malcolm disappears and resurfaces in Scotland, Felicity begins a desperate race against time to try and convince a Scottish detective (John Hannah) her husband is in fact a cold-blooded killer already lining up wife number three.