Mrs Wilson reviews round-up: Critics hail Ruth Wilson’s performance as own grandmother in BBC drama
The new series follows the 'remarkable' history of the Luther star's family
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Your support makes all the difference.The reviews are in for Ruth Wilson's performance as her own grandmother in new drama Mrs Wilson, which aired on the BBC last night (27 November).
Wilson, star of Luther and The Affair, leads the pack in the series based on the “remarkable” story of the actor's grandparents, Alison and Alexander (Game of Thrones's Iain Glen), and their history of secrets, lies and bigamy.
Her performance is being hailed as “compelling” by critics, with The Independent's Sean O'Grady stating he was “utterly gripped” throughout.
The drama, set between the 1940s and 1960s, is written by Anna Symon (Indian Summers) and will run for three episodes.
Keeley Hawes, Anupam Kher and Fiona Shaw - most recently seen in acclaimed drama Killing Eve - also star.
Below is a roundup of the best reviews.
“Ruth Wilson is quite compelling as her own gran, both as the young bride and the older widow. I was utterly gripped by her performance and the revelations about this frankly loathsome man”
“It is a great story – we may know whodunnit but the how and the why tugs us onwards – but it is also a slow, melancholy meditation on how much and how little we can know about each other; about the traps that love and trust lay down for us and how much you can get away with if you simply decide that the normal rules shall not apply to you.”
They’ve certainly got period details right. In flashbacks from 1960 to 1940, Wilson shed 20 years by the simple trick of letting her hair down. Ruth Wilson’s bewitching performance draws you back to an era when women concealed passion and pain beneath a starched exterior.
This complex blend of deception and romance proved to be even better than hoped. Stated so bluntly, the story sounds too extraordinary to be believable. It’s as though John le Carré turned his hand to a Barbara Cartland novella.
It’s a deliberate, slow and thoughtful hour of domestic mystery. Ruth Wilson shoulders it all, holding the screen as both the girlish young secretary and the betrayed matriarch.
Mrs Wilson continues next Tuesday on BBC One at 9pm
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