The Sixth Commandment

Altogether it is as fine a piece of television as you will ever see. Clearly intensely researched and forged with love and respect.

There’s true crime as it too often is (base, grubby, sensationalist, focused on the perpetrator), then there are dramas like this, which give victims their humanity and dignity.

The Sixth Commandment lays out the true story of the Ben Field case in a deliberate but effective manner, punctuated by some fine lead performances.

Heartbreaking, compelling drama.

The Sixth Commandment refuses to be dazzled by the gaslighting Field, a small, banal man capable of unspeakable evil. The tale is told at pace, with little verve. But Phelps never forgets Field’s victims were real and suffered horribly.

These true-crime dramas may be 10-a-penny nowadays, but this was a well cast, unexploitative and yet chilling addition to the genre.

The writing, while always sharp, becomes more generic. All the cliches of cop thrillers are here (a dawn raid that involves a perp fleeing in their undies, a detective on the brink of retirement roped in for “one last case”) and courtroom proceedings grind the emotional narrative to a halt.