User Reviews

In the winter of 1863 during The American Civil war, the cotton mills shut, poverty is rife. Alice Hewitt takes out an insurance policy on her ailing mother Mary, who later dies, Alice is arrested and charged with murder.

One of the historical cases, so the supporting information online is sketchy at best, some of the reading material I've found seems to condemn Alice quite strongly, the fact that she bought arsenic and took out a life insurance policy on her mother.

Anne Bailey was definitely the key witness, but was she in cahoots with George? Were the pair having an affair? Some aspects of the case seem cut and dried, but there are definitely a few grey areas.

You really can feel the squalor and decay in Mary's bedroom, the production team did a fine job.

I rated both Lorraine Ashbourne and Julia Ford, two actresses that have both had great careers, both seem to have been around for so long.

Engaging and interesting.

8/10.

Alice Holt was the last woman to be executed at Chester in December 1863 after several botched attempts.

Despite Edward Woodward's best endeavours. There does not seem to be much doubt about this case.

Alice was a young widow who became the common law wife to George Holt in Stockport. Due to the American civil war, the cotton industry was on its knees. Many people were out of work.

The slum house she lived in was shared with her mother Mary and four other lodgers.

To make ends meet Alice would pawn George's clothes. Even though her mother was ill. Alice took life insurance out on her mother for the sum of £25. She got a friend to impersonate her to pass the medical for the insurance policy.

Soon Mary fell ill with a stomach complaint. She also purchased arsenic from the pharmacy to clean bugs in the house.

Mary died from gastroenteritis. Its symptoms are similar with arsenic poisoning. Alice claimed on the life insurance policy and gave her mother a good send off. The cost was £14 for the funeral.

It looks like her lodgers might have had suspicions about the arsenic and went to the police. Alice later alleged that George put pressure on her to take out the life insurance. That he poisoned her mother.

Alice was pregnant and gave birth in jail before she was hanged.

This was a decent enough Victorian set drama but I was not convinced there was much of a mystery.