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Widower (The) (TV)
R2 - United Kingdom - ITV DVD Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (7th April 2014). |
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The Show
 ***This is a technical review only. For reviews on the show from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** The latest mini-series from ITV. When his wife Claire (Sheridan Smith) becomes suspicious about unpaid bills and credit card debts, Webster (Reece Shearsmith), at the time working as a nurse, poisons her and deliberately crashes their car, setting it on fire and leaving her inside. Three years later he marries Felicity Drumm (Kate Fleetwood) in New Zealand and soon after begins plotting her murder in order to receive money from forged life insurance policies. His plan fails, however, and with Felicity now aware of Webster's true nature, he leaves the country and moves onto a potential third victim, Simone Banarjee (Archie Panjabi). Will investigating Detective Inspector Charlie Henry (John Hannah) catch Webster before it's too late?
Video
ITV Studios Home Entertainment have released their latest mini-series, "The Widower", onto DVD, using the original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The transfer has been anamorphically enhanced, and looks good, but not great. The mini-series is quite dark in tone, and with that comes a colour scheme full of dark colours, in particular blacks, greys and browns, often with blue hues. Blacks are generally deep, but unfortunately shadow detail isn't great, especially in episode three when Webster is walking through the boat as John Hannah's detective Charlie Henry makes contact over radio with the harbour master. Other colours appear accurate, especially the skin tones, and details outside of the shadows are strong. Mid to long range shots look good, with no aliasing problems, and I noticed no signs of damage to the print such as scratches, or other such blemishes. This looks like your standard television broadcast with no technical problems - nothing more, nothing less. All three episodes are on a single disc and can be selected individually, or via a 'Play All' option.
Audio
ITV Studios Home Entertainment have provided a single audio track in the original language; English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. "The Widower", as per many true crime adaptations, is very much a dialogue driven affair, so the track is more than adequate. All dialogue is clear at all times, and there are no problems with inconsistent volume levels. There isn't much of a score to talk about, but when it does come into play, it is subtle and true to the tone of the series. Separation is minimal as expected, but is solid when utilised. There are no issues to speak of such as drop outs, scratches or background hiss. It might be an uneventful track due to the high amount of dialogue, but it is true to the show, and more than adequate. Optional subtitles are available in English.
Extras
Unfortunately, there are no extras here at all. Some sort of extra about the real events would've been a welcome addition, even in text form.
Overall
I did feel Reece Shearsmith was perhaps miscast (and that's coming from a big fan of his), but the rest of the casting more than made up for it - especially John Hannah. This is a solid mini-series, which despite being formulaic and nothing new, is worth a purchase.
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