I didn\u2019t want a clever, slick, \u201cprogressive\u201d fourth-wall-breaking version in which they made rags-to-riches Emma, say, a lesbian with a lucrative side-hustle as a spanky dominatrix. You think I exaggerate? They made Pip\u2019s sister, Sara Gargery, give Mr Pumblechook a sexual thrashing in Steven Knight\u2019s meddling adaptation of Great Expectations<\/a>, which was a dark day indeed. Not everything needs to be modernised. Sometimes things are fine as they are. <\/p>\n Thankfully, they haven\u2019t messed much with A Woman of Substance. Jessica Reynolds is inspired casting for the younger Emma, harnessing the same doe-eyed but feisty resilience that Seagrove did as the poor, abused housemaid treated like a rubbing rag by the rich Fairley family, one of whom leaves her alone, teenage and pregnant. She dedicates her life to wreaking revenge \u2014 a tiny human whirlwind who is 20 times cleverer than anyone at the big mansion \u2014 and taking everything they have from them.<\/p>\n I loved it back then and \u2014 despite a clunky opening in 1970s New York when my heart sank \u2014 ended up loving this version too. Maybe it is the nostalgia fix, but I\u2019ve binged the lot and, yes, of course it\u2019s unrealistic and OTT, but it is still a terrific ride. And, praise be, there are no gratuitous full-frontal penises. Given that this is a TV drama vogue, be grateful for small mercies.<\/p>\n Emma rises from half-starved servant to the wealthiest woman in the world, with a retail empire that stretches to America, all because of her determination, work ethic, talent (dressmaking) and a monumental grudge. Blethyn plays the older Emma with restrained rage, mistress of all she surveys at nearly 80, but with ingrate, grasping, useless offspring who have never wanted for anything taking all her sacrifices for granted and plotting to oust her from her own business, griping that she won\u2019t retire.<\/p>\n It takes something to outperform the star of Vera, but I think Reynolds just about manages it. She provides the main, industrious energy, making the young Emma\u2019s fortitude and strength of character suggest that anything is achievable if you want it enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n When she falls in love with rich Master Edwin, she has sex with him in the Yorkshire wilds (no blanket), with neither seeming to notice that northern winds are awfully nippy. Throughout we constantly swap between timelines: older, rich Emma and young, struggling but upwardly mobile Emma. There are also great performances from Leanne Best as the wealthy beauty Adele Fairley, who is a bird in a gilded cage, an alcoholic depressive hiding in her room and watching from behind the curtains as her husband (Emmett J Scanlan) seduces her very willing sister.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s Lenny Rush as Emma\u2019s younger brother, orphaned after their parents die tragically (no guessing who is to blame). When, years later, Emma is cornered and raped by Edwin\u2019s vile older brother, she has to wipe down her plaid skirt, brush away her tears and put on a full Christmas dinner for her children, husband and friends as if nothing has happened.<\/p>\n Of course it\u2019s simplistic and more than a bit clich\u00e9d. The rich people are mostly hideous, selfish caricatures while the poor are noble and kind. But as an escapist tale of a rise from poverty to great wealth, showing how entitlement makes people lazy and necessity is the mother of invention, it still does the business for me.<\/p>\n Have you watched all six episodes of\u00a0Gone\u00a0yet? It\u2019s the ITV drama in which David Morrissey played Michael Polly, the stony-faced headmaster of a public school with not just one stick up his backside but an entire forest, a man who failed to show any emotion even when his wife, Sarah, was found murdered because that wouldn\u2019t do and there were timetables to plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you haven\u2019t watched it all, look away now. Shield your eyes as if from a passing streaker because I\u2019m going to talk about the end. Which I found a touch disappointing, mainly because I had already guessed the killer long before, but also because I found that confession to the detective Annie (Eve Myles) rushed and somewhat unconvincing.\u00a0<\/p>\n What I definitely did not find disappointing was Morrissey\u2019s performance, which must be one of the best of his career. Or at least that amazing scene in the final episode when he told his daughter the truth, his brittle armoury cracking as the miasma of embarrassing private business \u2014 a failing marriage \u2014 oozed into the open. A marriage that might have been saved if he had been better at communicating like a normal human being. Just like he finally was doing now.<\/p>\n Some viewers apparently complained that this drama was too slow, which it possibly was. But it had all been leading up to this beautifully written speech of nearly three uninterrupted minutes, which Morrissey\u2019s Polly made into a tiny one-man play. His throaty voice was rasping from when he had tried to hang himself at the spot in the woods where Sarah\u2019s body had been found.<\/p>\n Until then Polly had presented like a dour tortoise, seething with flinty-eyed disapproval as he stalked the corridors of the grand school, poking his head out from his starched collar to bellow at some poor boy. Especially the boy whose father had been having sex with Polly\u2019s (now dead) wife. This was another drama in which none of the male characters emerged well. Sarah\u2019s bit on the side was an arrogant pig; Polly was cruel and vindictive to pupils and had all the human warmth of a freezer block; and Annie\u2019s estranged husband, Craig (Peter McDonald), was an angry control freak who switched from charm to violent anger on a sixpence. And then there was the killer \u2014 a weirdo stalker. Wouldn\u2019t someone at the school have noticed that a teacher was obsessed with Sarah?\u00a0<\/p>\n This was nevertheless a great drama of misdirection \u2014 the two men with the biggest motives and most unlikeable natures were not guilty after all, but the one who seemed unremarkable was. Yes it was slow, but I don\u2019t mind that in the age of attention deficit. It showed confidence: a vivid portrait of a man totally contained to the point that he had disappeared. He had\u00a0become\u00a0his job as headmaster, an extension of the school, his personality eclipsed. It made a nice change from guns and drugs, frankly.<\/p>\n Love TV? Discover the best shows on Netflix<\/a>, the best Prime Video TV shows<\/a>, the best Disney+ shows<\/a> , the best Apple TV+ shows<\/a>, the best shows on BBC iPlayer<\/a>, the best shows on Sky and Now<\/a>, the best shows on ITVX<\/a>, the best shows on Channel 4<\/a> streaming, the best shows on Paramount+<\/a> and our favourite hidden gem TV shows<\/a>. Don\u2019t forget to check our critics\u2019 choices to watch<\/a> and browse our comprehensive TV guide<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you were around in the 1980s \u2014 and have the mercury fillings to prove it \u2014 then…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[146,85,46,411],"class_list":["post-337911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/7e629c57-fd9a-49fb-a554-6d5362dd029e.jpg\")
David Morrissey stars in Gone on ITV1 and ITVXITV<\/p>\n