'Dark Angel: The True Story of Britain's First Female Serial Killer' Movie Review

'Dark Angel: The True Story of Britain's First Female Serial Killer': Joanne Froggatt stars in this one-night drama that tells the story of real-life Victorian poisoner Mary Ann Cotton. Based on an adaptation of criminologist David Wilson’s biography Mary Ann Cotton: Britain’s First Female Serial Killer, ‘Dark Angel’ airs on PBS’ ‘Masterpiece’, Sunday night May 21st at 9 PM Eastern Time; 8 PM Central Time.

So, I had never really heard anything about Mary Ann Cotton, although I’m very interested in reading  about true crime and serial killers. Mareena is strangely fascinated by the ‘Jack the Ripper’ murders herself, and had told me a little bit about Mary Ann Cotton, who was said to be even more prolific in her deadly ‘career’ than Jack the Ripper. She was the first female serial killer in Britain, and may have gotten away with her crimes for so long because she was a woman. At least, that’s my opinion.

On Sunday night at 9 PM, Eastern and Pacific times - May 21st, 2017 - PBS' 'Masterpiece' aired a two-hour television adaptation of Scottish criminologist David Wilson’s biography Mary Ann Cotton: Britain’s First Female Serial Killer; published in 2012. 'Dark Angel' starred Joanne Froggatt (as Mary Ann Cotton), Jonas Armstrong (as Joe Nattrass) and Laura Morgan (as Margaret Cotton). The television drama was produced by Jake Lushington and co-produced by Jane Hooks.

Who Plays Mary Ann Cotton - Nurse and Housekeeper and Britain’s First Female Serial Killer?

Joanne Froggatt was born in August of 1980, and was raised in the village of Littlebeck, North Yorkshire. She has compared her childhood home to living in the backdrop of Emily Bronte’s classic novel Wuthering Heights. Although she was initially uncertain about a career in acting, Joanne was a member of the youth theatre group known as the Rounders and left home at age thirteen to attend the Redroofs Theatre School in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

As the only child of Keith and Ann Froggatt - corner shopkeepers turned rare breed sheep farmers - Joanne worked briefly in both the retail and restaurant industries herself. Although she did have a few minor roles as a child - and actually made her television debut in an episode of the police drama ‘The Bill’ in 1996 - Joanne’s first steady job was at Booth’s Fine Foods, a cafe in the seaside town of Whitby. She was working at the popular retail store WH Smith’s - and seriously contemplating giving up acting - when she was invited to audition for a role in the long-running soap opera ‘Coronation Street’. Eventually, she got the role of Zoe Tattersall - a troubled teenage runaway who becomes pregnant - which turned out to be her first steady role in television.

Although she is

Who Plays Henry VIII - King of England and the Second Monarch of the Tudor Dynasty?

Born in St. John's Wood, London in February of 1971, Damian Watcyn Lewis has three siblings. He is the son of Charlotte Mary (née Bowater), from an upper-class background, and J. Watcyn Lewis, a city broker whose own parents were Welsh. He was raised with his brothers Gareth and William, and his sister Amanda, until the age of eight. In 1979, Damian was sent to Ashdown House boarding school, then was educated at Eton College.

At the age of sixteen, Damian decided he wanted to become an actor, and so he formed his own theater company. From 1990 to 1993, he studied at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and among his teachers there was Royal Shakespeare Company stalwart Colin McCormack. He studied alongside Daniel Craig and Joseph Feinnes and graduated in 1993. He started acting on the stage, particularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

There he was seen by director Stephen Spielberg, who subsequently cast him as Richard Winters in the HBO/BBC miniseries 'Band of Brothers' in 2001, a role which earned Damian a Golden Globe nomination, among other awards. His castmates from the miniseries were initially skeptical that he could play the role of an American military officer convincingly. It turned out that Damian's American accent was so flawless, that some of the cast and crew didn't believe that he was actually British.

He often portrays American military officials, even though he is British. He also frequently plays characters who are mentally unstable or violent. He has competed twice in the Northern Rock All Star Cup, a golf tournament that pits celebrities from Europe against those of America. Damian faced off against such celebrities as Meat Loaf and Alice Cooper.

He plays the guitar, the piano and the keyboard. Since July 4, 2007, Damian has been married to the actress Helen McCrory and they have two children together - a daughter named Manon, and a son named Gulliver. Damian was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama.

Who Plays Anne Boleyn - Marquess of Pembroke and Queen Consort of England, the Second Wife of King Henry VIII?

Claire Foy was born in Stockport, England in April of 1984. She grew up in Manchester and Leeds, the youngest of three children. Her family later moved to Longwick, Buckinghamshire for her father's job as a salesman for the Rank Xerox Company. Her parents divorced when she was eight years old.

She attended a girls' grammar school - Aylesbury High School - from the age of twelve. She then went on to study drama and screen classes at Liverpool John Moores University, and graduated from the Oxford School of Drama in 2007. She moved to Peckham, a district of southeast London, to share a house with "five friends from drama school." 

Claire Foy began her acting career in 2008, and is best known for her role as Amy - the title role in BBC One's production of 'Little Dorrit'. She was also in the made-for-television movie Going Postal - the third such adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels - which premiered in 2010. She has also played Anna in the 2011 medieval fantasy film Season of the Witch, alongside Nicolas Cage; and Dawn in the 2011 drama film Wreckers, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch. Claire has also played the role of Kate Balfour in NBC's shortlived television series 'Crossbones' in 2014.

She married the actor Stephen Campbell Moore in December of 2014. She was actually two months pregnant when she finished filming 'Wolf Hall', and gave birth to her first child - a girl - in March of 2015. She returned to work six months after the birth of her daughter to begin filming The Crown.

My Review of the Movie Adaptation of Hilary Mantel's 'Wolf Hall':

Despite not having read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel before we watched this miniseries, I must say that I really enjoyed watching this adaptation very much. I actually have always liked anything about the life and times of King Henry VIII and this made-for-television movie was no different. This was a six-part miniseries - from Sunday, April 5th, to Sunday, May 10th - that aired on PBS' 'Masterpiece' every Sunday night at 10 PM, Eastern and Pacific times, 9 PM, Central Time.

I think that the actors who were cast were absolutely amazing in their various roles. Mark Rylance made Thomas Cromwell seem so much more sympathetic than the history books portray him. In this television adaptation, Thomas Cromwell is portrayed as a man placed in an almost impossible situation.

He is the King's Chief Minister tasked to do something that he doesn't really believe in or agree with. His dilemma is 'Complain, and risk falling out of King Henry VII's favor, or do as he is told, and risk Anne Boleyn's understandable ire.' Not to mention having the Queen's actual death on his conscience.

I'm also amazed at myself. I'm amazed that despite being so interested in history, it never even crossed my mind to wonder if Thomas Cromwell had a family. I mean I knew that he was married and had children, but I just didn't realize how fatherly Thomas Cromwell was; how warm-hearted he seemed.

If I had one particular problem with this adaptation, it may be that sometimes I couldn't really tell who was who in a scene. Even if they were historically important characters, the question would occasionally cross my mind: "Now, who is this supposed to be again?" Overall though, I would give this movie adaptation an A!

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight