List Price: $19.95You Pay Only: $17.99 You Save: $1.96 (10%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9781593750756
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
ISBN: 1593750757
Label: WGBH BOSTON
Manufacturer: WGBH BOSTON
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: WGBH BOSTON
Region Code: 1
Release Date: September 02, 2003
Running Time: 180 minutes
Sales Rank: 28017
Studio: WGBH BOSTON
Theatrical Release Date: February 19, 1993
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Editorial Review:
Description:
Behind the shutters of a Victorian family’s home lies a lethal potion of lust, corruption and greed.
At first glance, the two toymaking families who share a spacious villa in the leafy London suburb of Blackheath appear to be the era’s picture-perfect examples. But looks can be murderously deceiving.
The Collards and Vandervents are not alone in their house–they are also living with wicked secrets. Thrown together for the sake of the family business, they each harbor dangerous emotions—and equally dangerous habits. Led by the frosty hand of a diabolic matriarch, the extended family also includes a selfish, debauched son; a bitter spinster; an adulterous wife; and a sharp young man who suspects his father’s sudden death wasn’t caused by the hand of God, but by poison.
A police investigation reveals unseemly secrets and an illicit affair that leads to a shocking—and riveting—conclusion. The Blackheath Poisonings, based on the best-selling mystery novel by Julian Symons, and adapted by Simon Raven (Edward and Mrs. Simpson), boldly and brilliantly redefines the Victorian era.
Special DVD features include: selected cast flmographies; selected cast list; biography of host Russell Baker; a link to the Masterpiece Theatre Web site; closed captions; and described video for the visually impaired.
On one DVD9 discs. Region coding: All regions. Audio: Dolby stereo. Screen format: 4x3 full frame.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - British drama at its Best
"The Blackheath Poisonings," based upon the exceptional novel by Julian Symons, is a riveting and searing examination of a Victorian English family. This drama, a three-part miniseries which aired on PBS' Masterpiece Theater, is truly unforgettable.
The Collards and Vandervents are an extended family who are very prominent toy makers. However, just because they manufacture toys does not mean they are innocent people who love children! The family enjoys games all right, but their playfulness is of an adult nature. As is stated in the beginning of the drama by Judy Parfitt: "The seven deadly sins are embodied in one diabolical family." Here you will encounter gluttonny, greed, and lust just to name a few. When an untimely death occurs, Paul Vandervent, the seventeen-year-old boy who is being pressured into joining the family business, believes the death to be unnatural. He thinks a killer is at large, and anyone in the family could be involved. Paul probes into the mystery, unearthing family skeletons and learning a bitter lesson. His quest brings him face to face with a diabolical and malicious poisoner. This drama is much more than a whodunit; it is a psychological thrillerand coming-of-age story in which things are not always what they seem.
The cast in this miniseries is superb! Ian Neice shines as George Collard, the glutinous, chocolate loving son of Harriet Collard. Judy Parfitt is exceptional as Harriet Collard, the matriarch of this odd family. The other cast members ... Read More
Rating: - A nicely murderous tale of Victorian resentments
"I loved Roger Vandervent. My only crime has been my nature," says Isabel Collard, and it turns out to be true, even though her lover has died of arsenic poisoning. That a person's nature is the driving force can also be said of the true murderer, as well as of the person who takes the final step to justice.
The Blackheath Poisonings is one of those masterful Masterpiece Theater showcases, full of sumptuous Victorian detail, skillful acting and the sort of exquisite manners one loves to observe and is repulsed by. The Collard family owns Collard and Vandervent, toymakers to the empire. It is a company that nothing will change. There is Isabel (Christine Kavanaugh), married to George Collard (Ian McNeice), a fat, epicene man who loves chocolates. Isabel is an adulteress with Roger Vandervent (James Faulkner), who is married to Beatrice (Julia St. John), a Collard daughter and sister to George. She is a woman of treasured resentments and heavy brows. They have a son, young Paul (Christien Anholt), who worships Isabel and wants to be free of the family. Another daughter, Charlotte (Zoe Wanamaker), makes a match with an adventurer, Robert Dangerfield (Patrick Malahyde), but she just might prove to be better at the game than he. Ruling over them all with an imperious will that can shrivel all before it is the matriarch of the family, Harriet Collard (Judy Parfitt). She dresses in black, pulls her hair so tightly back it must hurt and has a glare which can freeze thumbs.
The affection ... Read More
Rating: - ENGAGING MYSTERY
I loved the period details and I thought the acting was generally very good. I would recommend "The Blackheath Poisonings" to anyone interested in Victorian drama/mysteries.
Rating: - Victorian murder mystery....
The BLACKHEATH POISONINGS is a great film. Originally, a BBC/Masterpiece presentation on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting network, the film features a cast of familiar British faces such as Judy Parfitt (JEWEL IN THE CROWN, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE), Patrick Malahide (MIDDLEMARCH, THE SINGING DECTECTIVE); Zoe Wanamaker (MORSE) and dozens of other actors you've seen in various Mystery Theater presentations.
The transfer of the film is reasonably good. The plot is very complex. The cast of characters excepting the doctors who treat the poisoned and the police who investigate what turns out to be murder, are all members of the same family). The family business is toy manufacturing, and a number of curious 19th century toys are featured in various scenes. The action takes place in a fabulous Victorian house (red and green and filled with nicknacks), a 19th century factory, a brothel, a train station, a cemetery, and a park. Think Sherlock Holmes crossed with Gilbert and Sullivan.
Parfitt plays the domineering, stingy, and uptight matriarch "she who must be obeyed" to a family comprised of resentful adult children - sons, sons-in-law, daughters, nephews, stepchildren. The seven deadly sins are represented by the various family members - anger, lust, greed, avarice, lust - did I say lust? Sex and money are at the root of their problems - often the case in repressed Victorian society.
This mystery is SO good my 74-year old husband who usually falls asleep at 8:00 p.m. in ... Read More
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