The BBC has released first-look images for its highly anticipated true life drama The Sixth Commandment.
The four-part crime series, which features a host of big names, including veteran actors Timothy Spall, Sheila Hancock and Normal People's Éanna Hardwicke, focuses on student Ben Field's chilling murder of the university lecturer and novelist Peter Farquhar and the conspiracy to kill retired head-teacher Ann Moore-Martin in the village of Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire in 2015.
In the new images, we see Spall as Farquhar, Anne Reid as Moore-Martin, and Éanna Hardwicke as Field. Annabel Scholey also features as Ann’s niece, Ann-Marie Blake, whicle Hancock stars as Liz Zettl - the oldest-ever witness in a murder trial.
What is the show about?
The show dramatises how Field killed 69-year-old Farquhar and went onto manipulate his neighbour Moore-Martin, who was 83 at the time.
Both were deeply religious and were seduced by churchwarden Field, who attempted to persuade them to include him in their wills. He would eventually drug and murder Farquhar.
The show also focusses on the police investigation into the 28-year-old Field's crimes and the subsequent high-profile trial.
Liz Zettl, played by Hancock, was whom Farquhar lodged with; in the show, she is portrayed as Fields' next target. At age 101, she is thought to be the oldest-ever witness in a murder trial when she appeared at Oxford crown court in to testify against Field.
Penned by Sarah Phelps, writer of A Very British Scandal, The Sixth Commandment also celebrates the lives of Farquhar and Moore-Martin as mentors, beloved relatives and friends.
What became of Ben Field?
In 2015, Field, who admitted drugging Farquhar with benzodiazepines and hallucinogenic legal highs to "torment" him, was jailed for murdering the author to inherit his estate and ordered to pay more than £123,000 to his victim's family.
During court proceedings it was revealed that Field suffocated Farquhar and left a half-empty bottle of whisky in his room to give the impression that he had drunk himself to death. He had also undergone a "betrothal" ceremony with Mr Farquhar and was in a sexual relationship with Miss Moore-Martin.
Field, a Baptists minister's son, was found not guilty in 2019 of plotting to kill Moore-Martin who died of natural causes in May 2017. He was ordered to pay £123,111.26 to Mr Farquhar's family and £23,449.76 to Moore-Martin's, and was jailed for a minimum of 36 years for Farquhar’s murder in 2019.
"Field ruthlessly exploited two beloved members of a small Buckinghamshire village so they would hand their life savings over to him,' said Kathryn Curtis of the Crown Prosecution Service, during the proceedings held in 2020.
"This was a highly unusual case and today's hearing means Field can no longer profit from his cruel actions, as he has been ordered to return the swindled money to the families of Mr Farquhar and Ms Moore-Martin.
"Working to take this money from Field is the last chapter in seeing him finally face justice."
Starring in the series was "extremely disturbing" for the BBC cast
Anne Reid said playing the trusting pensioner Moore-Martin who for Field’s deception was one of her toughest roles.
Reid, who starred in Last Tango in Halifax and as Valerie Barlow in Coronation Street until 1973, admitted: “I found the story of the Sixth Commandment extremely disturbing.”
"I feel a great sense of responsibility in portraying this good, kind, trusting woman, Ann, who was so cruelly deceived,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Spall said he knew despite the chilling details, that this was a drama that needed to be made in tribute to the victims. "I knew this was an essential story to tell,” he said.
“I am honoured to be playing the remarkable Peter Farquhar and hope I do him justice, which is the very least he deserves.”
Why did justice for Farquhar and Moore-Martin take so long?
When wealthy novelist Farquhar died on October 26, 2015, friends and family said they believed it was of natural causes after a short illness.
However, when Moore-Martin, who lived three doors down from Farquhar, died in May 2017 of a stroke, her niece rang Thames Valley Police alleging that she was being manipulated by Ben Field into changing her will.
Around the time of Farquhar’s death, Moore-Martin began to see messages from “God” written on mirrors in her home encouraging her to change her will to include her 26-year-old boyfriend, Ben Field. The reality was that the messages were written by Field to manipulate her to change the will - shortly afterwards, police started to investigate both deaths, leading to three arrests (including of Field’s brother, Ian) as part of a murder investigation.
They discovered that in November 2014, Farquhar had changed his will, leaving half of his home and £15,000 to Field, and appointing him as his literary agent.
Police believe that he was “madly in love” with Field after reading Farquhar’s journals, which revealed that the Cambridge-educated Farquhar was thrilled that attractive church warden, Field — more than four decades his junior — was his lover.
It took four years, 880 statements and an exhumation for detectives to discover the extent of Field’s dastardly deeds.
James Hancock, 60, who lived opposite Mrs Moore-Martin for 23 years, said after Field’s trial: “This place is comparable to a sleepy village and it’s like Midsomer Murders — you don’t expect it on your doorstep.”
