User Reviews

This TV adaptation, airing around the same time as Rendell's Wexford tales, was extremely strange and atmospheric, centring on the murder of a number of blonde women on the wild moors.

Colin Firth - pre-Darcy fame - is Stephen Whalby, a loner who often takes long walks on the moor. His wife, Lyn (Emma Croft) is long-suffering and something of a doormat. When the murders start to happen Stephen is the one who finds the bodies. Quickly the police (led by Manciple, George Costigan) start to regard him as a suspect, but can Whalby convince them of the truth? With twists and turns you might not see coming, this was a superior piece of TV drama. It kept up the tension throughout its 2 or 3 episodes, and kept the viewer guessing. Colin Firth in particular was in fine form in this drama and I hope it appears on DVD soon.

Having watched this fine, tense thriller it proved that Colin Firth is a versatile and vastly underrated actor. Forever linked with 'Mr Darcy' I feel this showed more depth and that as well as playing comedic and upper class gentry he shows that he can reach within himself to play a role against type that was entirely believable. Excellent portrayal as man tortured by doubts, loved but unloving, his only friend being the moor itself. A very good supporting cast. Syliva Syms as the mother who abandons her family was very much true to form with a performance one would expect from this 'old school' actress. The scenery was breathtaking and added to the sense of foreboding that builds from the very beginning.

Given its Rendell, its not obvious about what this is really about. However, very quickly we learn that Stephen (who loves the moor, but doesnt know why) and Lyn (his wife-who hates the moor) havent ever consumated their marriage. But in quick succession there are a couple of deaths of young blonde women which leads to a very good and different police officer (George Costigan) investigating and from the outset he believes he has the answer. For me he wins the acting honours. I found Firths portrayal as a lone man who seems to "know nothing much" somewhat bland and a lonely wife who wont leave her hubby/get the marriage annulled even dafter. I was left disappointed by this, and it didnt get better with age, having watched it on ITV the 1st time around!

Out of the almost 16 movies that I have seen Colin Firth in since recently discovering the A&E production of "Pride and Prejudice," I have to say THIS is Colin Firth at his finest!

This film was before his Darcy days and before the entire world's female population fell head long into swoon-ville as he emerged from the lake with a sodden shirt, damp curly hair and a little-lost-boy look to Elizabeth Bennet.

However, after watching "The Master of the Moor" I was utterly amazed again at this man's talent to convey his emotions and feelings on screen so that the viewer forgets they are watching Colin Firth and sees the character, Stephen Whalby. They see all his internal hang-ups, family issues, and confusion. You experience something when Firth is on the screen that is not felt with other modern day actors and actresses.

From the beginning to the end, he looks like an intelligent lost boy who doesn't know what is happening to him and is very confused on the events taking place around him. However, in the last segment, from the moment that Det. Insp. Manciple (George Costigan) arrives on the scene again after playing a near psycho is the first two episodes, the movie takes a drastic switch that even I couldn't have foreseen – although I have to admit when I reached this segment, the clues confused me – and rightly so. It was one of the best switches I had seen in a long time.

The ending is another switch that wasn't as shocking as it would normally have been but was more artistically correct for the characters involved. (Will not share the secrets of what happened on the moor! You will never guess and have to experience the full measure of it yourself!)

I have to admit when first hearing the name "Master of the Moor," I was really hoping for a more Gothic-Jane-Eyre type movie with high boots, lord of the manor style, and dark mansions. After watching this movie, however, I have to say that it was the best movie of Firth's that I have seen so far.

Firth fans who have not seen "Master of the Moor," take my word for it. It is worth the trouble to gain a copy. This actor is phenomenal at portraying emotions by not doing or saying anything spectacular.

He is a REAL "master of the cinema."

Colin Firth was a rising star and this was filmed a year before his global breakout role in the BBC drama Pride and Prejudice.

Firth plays Stephen Whalby, a strange young man who was deserted by his mother when he was a child.

He works as a furniture restorer with his father who is a bitter angry man. Stephen is obsessed with the moors, always going there and writing about it in the local newspaper.

Stephen's wife Lyn hates the moors and never goes there. There also seems to be issues with their marriage. It has never been consummated and Lyn finds romance with Nick who works in a pet shop.

However when Stephen finds the body of a blonde female painter he had met the day before. Stephen becomes a suspect with the volatile DI Manciple (George Costigan.)

This Ruth Rendell Mystery is a psychological thriller that presents both Stephen and his father as unhinged. There is even a hint that Stephen is a closet homosexual.

Being the first of a three part drama, it already shows signs of being too flabby as a three parter with lots of moody shots. The best scenes are the interaction between Stephen and Manciple who also seems rather strange himself.

S2 E1 Episode aired Sep 2, 1994 S7 E2 Episode aired Sep 9, 1994

I just watched "Master of the Moor" (1993), starring Colin Firth as Stephen Whitby. We all know that Colin was exceptional; however, it took a good compliment of actors to play off of.

Yep, Stephen finds a body on the moor. And we all know that the finder is more than likely the culprit, at least in Det. Insp. Manciple's (George Costigan) mind. I believe the inspector right off. The only problem with that is it seems too simple.

Soon as predicted by Stephen more Moorish dispatches occur. Seems that everyone has a secret.

Watch and you will not be disappointed. Not quite the stature of the "Midsummer Murder" series. The pacing, however, seems a tad slow. However, that is what makes the series different.