Fingersmith - The Memorable TV DVD Review

Following on the petticoats of the already legendary Tipping The Velvet comes another Sarah Waters Victorian Sapphic drama, Fingersmith is laced with all the hallmarks of classic British period drama, dark as Dickens and very dramatic.

The plot sees a crook called Mr Rivers hatching a plan with a young petty criminal (aka a fingersmith) called Sue Trinder. Sue will become the maid of Maud Lilly a woman who lives a sheltered life with her uncle cataloguing old manuscripts and unbeknown to her - heir to a fortune. Sue's task is to help Mr Rivers marry Maud then have her committed to an institution. But as the story progresses it emerges that it is actually Maud and Rivers who are working in partnership to double-cross Sue and in the end it seems everyone has some sort of secret scheme as the layers of the story unfold.

It's your classic double cross and triple cross and at times it does make the story a little hard to follow but its such a well mounted production you are swept along, far less full on than Tipping The Velvet, which was of course scripted by controversy specialist Andrew Davies, the man who put D'Arcy in a dripping shirt, Fingersmith benefits from the touch of writer Peter Ransley who really does capture that Dickensian feel that the novel has.

Sarah Waters might find herself grouped in too often on the lesbian/gay shelf at the book shops but both Velvet and Fingersmith are quality dramas that grip you tight in their spell.

ANY SPECIAL FEATURES?

There's a great featurette going behind the scenes of the production as well as character profiles and a photo gallery.