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ITV’s controversial two-part drama, Appropriate Adult, told the true story of how an ordinary woman, Janet Leach (Emily Watson), acted as the ‘appropriate adult’ in police interviews with notorious serial killer, Fred West (Dominic West), and how she became deeply affected by her experiences. It’s a set-up that’s got ‘BAFTA’ written all over it, and the accomplished production had everything that a BAFTA voter could want: artistic use of camera angles, saturated colour palette, effective use of sound effects… However, it also had the substance that is so desperately needed to make a drama worth watching, rather than just worth studying in a Media Studies class.
As ever with a drama such as this, the press were quick to criticise before having seen it, voicing concerns that it would be glorifying West and, even, painting him sympathetically. But it was clear from the outset that it had been sensitively, and realistically, handled, telling the story as it was, rather than embellishing it with sensationalist details. The use of archive news footage also made clear that it was firmly grounded in reality, acting as brutal reminder that the shocking events on screen were all too real.
I’ve already said that Appropriate Adult was a masterpiece on a technical level, but where it succeeded most was in the quality of its acting. Sylvestra Le Touzel was superb as police officer Hazel Savage, with her facial expressions alone ensuring that every ounce of the script’s power was translated onto the screen. That said, she is almost certain to be overlooked in Supporting Actress categories in favour of Monica Dolan, whose portrayal of Rose West was quite simply unforgettable. She didn’t even need dialogue to leave an impression, with the withering looks she was making in the courtroom scenes being so intimidating that they left me sinking into my sofa, wanting to escape.
In any other drama, Dolan would have surely walked away with the top acting honours but, here, she was undeniably overshadowed by the two leads, with Emily Watson perhaps giving the performance of her already impressive career. She was Janet Leach, and nothing emphasised this more than the breath-taking courtroom scenes. You could almost see the cracks appearing as she started to break, finally succumbing to the overwhelming emotions that she’d been struggling to control since the start.
Finally, we come to Dominic West. It would have been very easy for him to play a man as inherently disliked as Fred West, as some over the top, dripping with evil lunatic who has you throwing things at the screen. But his performance was far better judged than that and, much like Janet, you were left wondering how to feel as he recalled his killings with the same nonchalance as if he was remembering what he’d had for dinner three years ago. It’s become a cliché for actors to win awards for portraying real-life figures, but they would be thoroughly deserved here, West’s portrayal sticking with you long after the end credits had rolled.
Everything combined, Appropriate Adult was an arresting drama, bristling with tension and atmosphere. A challenging watch it may have been, but an all the more rewarding one for that.
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