10/10’ BBC period drama based on best-selling novel | UK News

A gripping BBC period drama hailed by followers as “brilliant” with the “best twist ever” has discovered a new lease of life after quietly arriving on a major UK streaming platform. Fingersmith, the acclaimed adaptation of Sarah Waters’ best-selling Victorian crime novel, has landed on Prime Video, where all three episodes are now out there to watch. First broadcast in 2005, the richly atmospheric sequence stars Imelda Staunton, Sally Hawkins and Michelle Dockery, and has been rediscovered by viewers who missed it the first time around.

The twisting story follows Sue Trinder (Sally Hawkins), a younger orphan raised in a den of thieves by the sharp-tongued Mrs Sucksby (Imelda Staunton), who trains her in the artwork of pickpocketing. Sue is soon recruited by smooth-talking conman Richard “Gentleman” Rivers (Rupert Evans) for an elaborate rip-off – one that sees her pose as a girl’s maid to timid heiress Maud Lilly (Elaine Cassidy), with a sinister plot to steal her fortune.

But in basic Victorian melodrama fashion, nothing – and no one – is kind of what they appear.

The drama also boasts a heavyweight supporting forged, with Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery and Charles Dance among the acquainted faces weaving through the story’s darkish underbelly of betrayal, deception and forbidden love.

Despite being almost 20 years outdated, the sequence has misplaced none of its energy to shock and captivate. It still boasts a strong 7.8/10 score on IMDb from over 10,000 reviews, and followers are once again raving about its storytelling online.

One viewer said: “Skilfully evocative of Dickens, Collins and Conan Doyle this is top-drawer storytelling. All the performers rise to the occasion and what a great twist at the end of an already serpentine plot.”

Another wrote: “Having read the book prior to watching this adaptation you would think that it would have lost some of its thrill.

However, the story is so clever I could never tire of it,” praising it as “compelling viewing.”

A 3rd fan declared: “To turn a 600 page book where every line is of the highest quality into a three hour extravaganza is a huge feat… In conclusion, a brilliant adaptation where all involved gave 100% and making this one of the best BBC dramas I’ve seen.”

At the time of its release, Fingersmith drew crucial acclaim and was nominated for Best Drama Serial at the 2006 BAFTAs, cementing its standing as a standout BBC manufacturing of the 2000s.

The story also proved to have enduring worldwide appeal. In 2016, filmmaker Park Chan-wook – the visionary director behind Oldboy – tailored Waters’ novel into the award-winning Korean-language thriller The Handmaiden, relocating the story from Victorian England to Japanese-occupied Korea in the Thirties.