Suspicion

Tightly plotted, incisively acted, and faultlessly directed, Jamie Payne's 2003 British miniseries is a model thriller that develops its story in a crisp, linear fashion. Carol and Mark Finnegan (Amanda Redman and Adrian Dunbar)—apparently enjoying a near-idyllic life—are about to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary when Carol receives an anonymous e-mail claiming that Mark is having an affair with his secretary. With the seed of doubt planted, Carol eventually elects to confront the woman, only to find her dead—murdered—and she knows that her husband, while purportedly in the clear, is the most logical suspect. Peter Whalley's screenplay hews to well-established genre conventions but never falls back on clichés, offering plenty of twists while avoiding the ending-from-left-field that often mars thrillers. Suspicion falls slightly short of Hitchcockian perfection, but not by much. Highly recommended. (E. Hulse)