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The Sixth Commandment (UK) (Mini Series)

BBC One’s latest series The Sixth Commandment is a heartbreaking story of exploitation and deceit, based on a real-life story that hit the headlines in 2017 and has now been adapted into a four-part drama each episode about an hour long. Two elderly folks, Peter and Anne lived just three doors down from each other, who eventually ended up sharing not just a lover but a very tragic end for themselves. I was personally not aware of this, but, by now, I do know that true story dramas that BBC usually makes are worth spending your time on. Normally I wouldn't qualify this is a gay drama to be published here, but there are significant inputs and central character here that made me do a small write up here.

Peter is an older man who is about to retire from the school he teaches. He is a closet homosexual although his brother's family supposedly knows about it. He is a devout christian and has never had sex with another man or even loved anyone.  When he is hired as a consulting professor at university, he meets Ben, a handsome young man who happens to be not only religious as well as intelligent and caring. The two son get together and Ben moves in but soon Peter's health starts to deteriorate. He has hallucinations and before you know he has redone his will in Ben's name and soon does a sudden unexpected death. No one things of anything. Few months later, he starts to get closer to Anne, an elderly woman who is also never married but has a vey doting niece, who finds it odd that a young man like Ben would spend so much time with her aunt. Ben and Anne soon start a romantic relationship but soon Anne also starts going through similar motions of sudden illness and hallucinations. The niece alert the cops saying something is wrong and that Ben needs to be checked. Ben backs off but sadly Anne still passes away. And then begins police's hunt to prove that Ben has something to do with deaths of both Peter and Anne and the show ends with the police investigation and the eventual court case that led to Ben's eventual prison sentence.

The show is very neatly divided into four episodes focusing on Peter, Anne, investigation and the court case. The show spends enough time on what really happened between Ben and Peter and also between Ben and Anne and how eventually Ben was convicted for Peter's murder but not Anne's. How Ben tries to portray Peter in a bad light and putting forth his sexuality but thankfully jury sees it through. The show very deeply shows us the loneliness that Peter is going through and how it was easy for someone like Ben to victimize him. What Ben does is pure evil, but the show takes its sweet time in first two episodes to show exactly that. The show also focuses on how the grieving families are impacted by the whole investigation. It's been two years since Peter does, but his brother is open to helping the cops uncover the truth if there indeed was a foul play. But it's Anne's niece who stands out as the person who gets the ball rolling for the whole investigation by her reporting to the cops. The show is very slow to be honest, but it's the performances form almost everyone that stand out. The performances and writing make the victims feel human, and that’s what ultimately makes The Sixth Commandment stand out. How an evil man (the actor playing Ben is fantastic as the charming yet quiet and calculative perpetrator) uses a quiet shy elderly gay man to lure him to love with religion is something to watch out for. The series gives a fitting ode to Peter and Anne. It's not an easy watch for sure, with all the love of details it goes through including the investigation and final court hearing , but it s worthwhile investment of time. (7.5/10)

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