The Sixth Commandment dramatizes the real-life murder of retired teacher, inspirational university lecturer and novelist Peter Farquhar (Timothy Spall) and the death of his neighbor Ann Moore-Martin (Last Tango in Halifax star Anne Reid).
Both were deeply religious but fell in love with charismatic student Ben Field (Normal People star Éanna Hardwicke), who drugged and murdered Peter and preyed on Ann for her cash.
The drama explores how both victims were manipulated by Field and captures the extreme gaslighting he carried out on them both, as well as the police investigation into his crimes and the subsequent high-profile trial.
Penned by Sarah Phelps, writer of A Very British Scandal, it also celebrates Peter and Ann’s lives, showing them as cherished mentors, much-loved relatives and treasured friends.
“When I received Sarah’s brilliant scripts, I knew this was an essential story to tell,” says Timothy Spall. “I am honored to be playing the remarkable Peter Farquhar and hope I do him justice, which is the very least he deserves.”
So here's everything you need to know about The Sixth Commandment...
The Sixth Commandment release date
The four-part true crime drama The Sixth Commandment will start on BBC1 on Monday July 17 at 9pm with the next episode showing the following day on Tuesday July 18 at the same time. The final two episodes are on July 24 and 25. Episodes will become available on BBCiPlayer and we will update with any international air dates as soon as we hear.
Is there a trailer for The Sixth Commandment?
Yes the BBC has just released its trailer for The Sixth Commandment which opens with Ben Field giving a speech in church, followed by Anne Reid and Timothy Spall in action as Peter and Ann. Take a look below...
The Sixth Commandment plot
The Sixth Commandment tells the story of 69-year-old retired teacher, novelist and university lecturer Peter Farquhar from Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire, who bonded with 30-year-old student Ben Field over their shared love of books.
Soon Field duped Peter into a fake relationship and persuaded him to change his will, making him the main beneficiary, before drugging him with a cocktail of pills and spiking his whisky.
He convinced Peter that he was losing his mind, leaving him feeling increasingly scared and isolated. Peter died in 2015 and Field then began a sexual relationship with Peter’s 86-year-old neighbour, devout Christian, Ann.
She died in May 2017 and Field was accused of plotting to kill her but was found not guilty. Field was jailed for a minimum of 36 years for Peter’s murder in 2019.
“I wouldn’t have been able to write this without the help, support and insights of Peter and Ann’s families,” says writer Sally Phelps. “I’m so appreciative of the trust they placed in me to tell the stories of their loved ones.”
The Sixth Commandment cast
Timothy Spall plays mild-mannered former teacher, novelist and university lecturer Peter in The Sixth Commandment. Back in the 1980s, Timothy won our hearts as Barry in Auf Wiedersehen Pet and has gone on to star in numerous hit TV shows such as The Street, The Syndicate, The Enfield Haunting and Hatton Garden.
His film credits are equally impressive and he’s had major roles in the Harry Potter films, Enchanted, A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Damned United, The Last Samurai and Pierrepoint.
Anne Reid as Ann Moore-Martin
Anne plays the trusting pensioner and retired headteacher Ann Moore-Martin who also fell for Field’s deception. She played Celia in Last Tango in Halifax and starred as Queenie in Hold The Sunset, as well as Lady Denham in Sanditon. She’s also starred as Valerie Barlow in Coronation Street until 1973, Our Zoo, Upstairs Downstairs, The Jury, Years and Years, Prisoners Wives, Dinnerladies, Peak Practice and Playing the Field.
“I found the story of the Sixth Commandment extremely disturbing and I feel a great sense of responsibility in portraying this good, kind, trusting woman, Ann, who was so cruelly deceived,” says Anne.
Éanna Hardwicke on playing murderer Ben Field
Éanna Hardwicke plays conman and murderer Ben Field in The Sixth Commandment. He starred as Rob in the BBC's TV smash hit drama Normal People and is Sebastian in Netflix fantasy series Fate: The Winx Saga. He’s also been in Irish murder drama Smother and will appear in the upcoming film The Sparrow.
Here Éanna reveals much more about playing Ben Field...
How did you feel about portraying Ben Field in this drama?
Éanna Hardwicke says: "When I first read the scripts, I was shocked; truth really can be stranger than fiction. I had to set aside any horror and disgust and get into Ben Field’s headspace. Thankfully, there was loads to read and watch to try to understand him. I’ve always wanted to play people with a distinctly different world view from my own and the thrill of acting is being able to momentarily step into something very different and surrender yourself to that. When it’s a character who has done such terrible things, there’s a real balancing act in telling that story.
What was it about Sarah Phelps’ scripts that appealed to you?
Éanna Hardwicke says: "Sarah Phelps has an amazing way of capturing the essence of people. We get to celebrate Peter and Ann as people before Ben enters their lives, and I love the way the drama follows all the different viewpoints, which is unusual for this genre. The second half of the series is very much about the rigorous police investigation and the court case that followed."
How would you describe Ben Field?
Éanna says: "He comes across as a mature, intellectual, devout Christian who loves literature, and those are the big entry points for his relationship with Peter. He also appears outgoing and affable, but he doesn’t have any close friends. As the story progresses, we unpeel those layers bit by bit. He becomes more extravagant, ruthless and nightmarish."
The Sixth Commandment looks at how Field manipulated and gaslighted both victims in a bid to get their inheritance. What do you think made him view them as particularly vulnerable?
Éanna reveals: "They both lived alone and, although they had close family, there were still lots of opportunities for Ben. They say love is blind and it’s very easy to see why you would be taken in because he was so plausible. Peter and Ann were shrewd people, both were teachers who would have been used to meeting hundreds of young people, but Ben offered them what they needed and came along at a time when they were at their most vulnerable."
What were the motivation behind Field’s crimes. What’s your take on it?
Éanna says: "There are several motivations. One of them is definitely financial gain, but his chief motivation seems to be the thrill of lying, playing a part well and fooling everyone because it makes him feel significant. I think the judge at his trial described him as someone who had a pathological need to manipulate, hurt and have power over others."
Why do you think viewers will be drawn to this story?
Éanna says: "This is a story that cries out to be told. It could be seen as a cautionary tale about people who live by themselves, who are shrewd, sociable and part of a community, and yet this person was still able to manipulate them. Thankfully, it’s an isolated and extreme example, but elderly people living on their own can feel like unseen members of society and minor versions of what Ben did happen to people every day. This is a drama that tells their stories with great honesty and authenticity."
Who else is starring in The Sixth Commandment?
The Sixth Commandment also stars Sheila Hancock (Unforgotten, A Discovery of Witches, Great Canal Journeys) as Peter's pensioner friend Liz Zettl. Annabel Scholey (The Split, The Salisbury Poisonings) plays Ann-Marie Blake, the devoted niece of Ann Moore-Martin.
The detectives characters are DCI Mark Glover who is played by Jonathan Aris), DS Natalie Goulding played by Anna Crilly and DS Richard Earl played by James Harkness.
Ben Bailey Smith (The Split, Andor) plays Simon Blake, while Conor MacNeill (Industry), Adrian Rawlins (Baptiste, Chernobyl) and Amanda Root (Summerland, Unforgotten) also star.
Interview: Timothy Spall and Anne Reid on playing neighbors Peter Farquhar and Ann Moore-Martin
Why do you think viewers will be drawn to this story?
Anne Reid says: "The audience will find the whole story fascinating. What’s terrifying is that terrible evil is hiding in plain sight. Ben Field could be anybody, he feels like a normal, loving guy, which makes you question your own life. I don’t know whether I would have been taken in by someone like him – it’s difficult to judge relationships.
Timothy Spall says: "Throughout history it’s usually the murderers, not the victims, who become famous, but this is about the victims as well as the perpetrator. We’re paying homage to the people who lived and talking about the frailty of the human heart. This drama is a tribute to them and to the bravery within the family in finding justice for them."
What sort of people were Peter and Ann?
Timothy says: "Peter was a Cambridge graduate and a brilliant teacher. He was highly respected, much loved, and had a huge influence on young people’s lives and careers. He was also a devout Christian and found it difficult to reconcile his repressed sexuality with his faith. Although he had many friends, he was quite lonely and felt deeply isolated within himself. When we first meet him in the drama, he’s just retired from Stowe School and is about to take up a position as a guest lecturer at the University of Buckingham.
Anne says: "Ann was a successful model when she was young, and then became a teacher and headmistress. She was a lively, intelligent woman who had retired and lived a couple of doors away from Peter. That’s how Ben Field came to meet her and identify her as a potential victim.
How do you think Ann and Peter were duped into fake relationships by Ben Field?
Anne says: "Ann was very religious and Ben feigned a religious belief to gain her confidence and become friends. He began by helping her with things around the house and, before long, she offered him a room because he said he had nowhere to live. He wins her confidence and draws her in and then tells her that he’s fallen in love with her, which is quite beguiling when you’re 83."
Timothy says: "You’re talking about deeply intelligent people who are hoodwinked by their own dreams being answered – the softest part of their souls are being touched by somebody so seemingly genuine, who offers them a love and intimacy that they’ve never felt. When Peter starts to get very ill and begins hallucinating, he makes the assumption that he’s just getting old – he doesn’t see anything nefarious going on at all."
What were the main challenges of taking on your respective roles?
Timothy says: "It’s a massive responsibility when you’re playing a real human being as you’re telling a story about someone who’s loved and remembered and was alive not that long ago. You really want to get it right. It was so important to me that Peter’s family were behind this production. As the story develops, we follow the criminal process, the bringing to justice in a case that was originally shut down and deemed to be accidental death."
Anne says: "I felt a great sense of responsibility portraying Ann; this good, kind, trusting woman who was so cruelly deceived and whose relatives are still alive.
How did you find acting opposite Éanna Hardwicke, who portrays Ben Field?Anne says: "Éanna’s a joy to work with. In real-life, he has a lovely Irish accent; I got such a shock when I heard him talking as himself and not as Ben Field! "
Timothy says: "When I first read the script I wondered, ‘Who on Earth are they going to get to play this part?’ From an acting point of view, it’s a great role, but it’s very subtle and needs a brilliant actor. Éanna’s fantastic. He makes the character so convincing and believable.
Writer Sarah Phelps on the challenges of retelling an extraordinary true-crime story…
Sarah Phelps, who has previously adapted a number of Agatha Christie classics for BBC1 including And Then There Were None (2015) and The Pale Horse (2020), says: "I remember following the case as it was happening, and I could feel it coming to life in my head as a story before I even started going through the research material. There were so many elements to it. I started out thinking that this was a really twisted, sad story which had a fairy tale quality to it. It’s about an English village into which walks somebody who is entirely predatory but who quickly becomes absorbed into the life of the village. He was so good at camouflage that nobody saw the wolf’s clothing.
"I’ve spent a lot of my career writing about murder, and I think the victim is always the most important element. One thing I didn’t want to do was to glamorise the killer. A lot of TV programmes give you the sense that you’re falling under the spell of the killer, who’s incredibly intelligent, with some grand plan, but I wanted to understand and honour the victims, to give them life and dignity. I wouldn’t have been able to write this without the help, support and insights of Peter and Ann’s families. I’m so appreciative of the trust they placed in me to tell the stories of their loved ones."
