Fallen
Emilia Fox with Problems of Her Own
Fallen Angel was a compelling piece of drama and it took a different and refreshing approach from the traditional concept of the psychopath storytelling focussing on the “why” rather than the “who”. It was shown over three nights on ITV in 90 minute installments but they were in reverse chronological order. The first part saw Angela (Emilia Fox) sharing a house with Eddie (played brilliantly by Mark Benton) as a fairly unpleasant duo who were planning to kidnap a child. Eddie was naive and easily manipulated and it was implied that he was a paedophile, although this was never absolutely clarified in the show, and this created an uncomfortableness in this viewer as I was torn between revulsion and sympathy. However, this was Angela’s story and as the net closed around her it was people that she was close to (rather than the police) who worked things out and confronted her in the final showdown.
The subsequent tales then focussed on David (Charles Dance) who was Rosie’s father, and friend of the family, Wendy (Clare Holman). The episodes revealed that Angela was in fact a stolen identity (her real name was Rosie) and took a close look at events in her early life that led to her eventual corruption. I enjoyed these flashback stories more than the first episode that was slightly too slow a pace and in themselves contained twists and shocks aplenty. If there is any criticism it is that the story was not as clever as it thought it was and probably not deserving of four-and-a-half hours but the acting talent on display more than made up for it.
Tags: Charles-Dance, Clare-Holman, Emilia-Fox, Fallen-Angel, Mark-Benton, Modern Drama, Period Drama
