Murder in Mind (TV Series) Mercy (2001) User Reviews

One of the best.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 26 April 2020]

A man helps his sick wife take her own life, allowing her to pass with dignity.....

I'd put this on a part with Teacher, as my favourite episode of the series. You think you know what's happening, and the direction they're taking you in, but it's so much more clever. They really know how to show off the art of misdirection, you think one thing is happening, when in reality it's something completely different.

The way this is made I'm reminded of series like Tales of the unexpected, Scorpion Takes, Ruth Rendell, there really is a twist, and a sting in the tale.

Judy Parfitt is terrific, Timothy West gives an outstanding performance, I'm a big fan of his, and this is up there with his best.

This is outstanding, 9/10.

Deadly Doctor!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 5 September 2011]

This series seems to occasionally have some really stellar players - and they make their particular episodes stand out. David Suchet in "Teacher" and now Timothy West in "Mercy". We have just watched him in "Bleak House" and he is a magnificent Lord Deadlock!! "Mercy" starts out as a very black comedy (to me) - an elderly village doctor has become a bit of a folk hero when he helps his wife to die when she is facing a terminal brain illness. He is on a talk show and as he quietly talks about her civic mindedness, a scene comes on that shows his wife as a screaming harpy tearing strips off a helpless delivery driver because he has dared to park near the village green. In another scene she bluntly tells her husband "Well you can return to all your young girls" he looks shocked but it starts to make you (the viewer) think. He comes across as defeated and he makes a promise to his wife not to tell their daughter anything about the illness but as the show comes to an end events show he has been in complete control from the start. Judy Parfitt (the wife) was always at her best playing haughty, disagreeable types. It was said she had the pair of iciest blue eyes in the business, all the better to play indomitable characters in "Little Dorrit" and "Funland". I don't know whether Veronica Lang (the mistress) was Australian but she was definitely in some popular Aussie dramas including "A Country Practice", "Halifax fp" and "Heartbreak High".