It is ironic that the 1985 film adaptation of Ordeal by Innocence starred Christopher Plummer. This series was due to be shown at Christmas 2017 but because of allegations faced by one of the stars, transmission was postponed.
The director was inspired by Ridley Scott's last minute reshoots of All the money in the World where Christopher Plummer replaced the embattled Kevin Spacey. In January 2018, actor Christian Cooke was cast as the last minute replacement and portions of the series had to be re-shot.
Christian Cooke plays the adopted son of Rachel Argyll, a wealthy philanthropist who has been murdered in her mansion. Another of her adopted son Jack Argyll was imprisoned for her murder who later died in jail. Dr Arthur Calgary visits the widower Leo Argyll and tells him that he gave Jack a lift at the time of the murder. He has been a research scientist in the Arctic and knew nothing about the murder or else he would had come forward earlier.
Was Rachel a horrible woman who had other enemies? If Calgary's story is true, then someone else killed Rachel. Calgary meanwhile meets other acidic members of the family, some of them warn him to stay away or are keen to take advantage of him. Meanwhile Leo is keen to remarry.
The first episode was rather moodily shot, it is hard to spot any joints regarding the reshoots. The best performance was by Luke Treadaway as the nervous and rather weak Dr Arthur Calgary. It leaves the viewer to treat him cautiously as to what exactly his motive is.
Not a series that blasts off the blocks but maintains enough interest as to what happens in the following episodes.