Dark Angel (2016) was apparently seen in England as a two-part TV miniseries. We saw it as a full-length TV movie. It was directed by Brian Percival.Joanne Froggatt plays Mary Ann Cotton, England's first known female serial killer. There's no suspense here--the movie opens with the protagonist being led to the gallows. The movie then circles back to explain to us how events brought Mary Ann Cotton to her execution.Joanne Froggart must have been delighted to play this macabre role. All those years at Downton Abbey left her with the reputation as playing a fine person with a pure heart. Now she gets to play a far heavier role. She does a fabulous job with the part--you really do believe that she could, and would, murder people in order to get what she wanted.As portrayed in the movie, Mary Ann Cotton wasn't a demon, and she didn't start out with a view towards murdering her way forward. Victorian times were repressive for women, and a bad marital choice left a woman on her own with no obvious opportunity for escape. I'm sure many women dreamed about getting out of an unhappy marriage by murdering their husband. However, dreaming is one thing, and arsenic is another. It was easier to avoid detection as a serial killer at a time when many people died young of natural causes. Death was everywhere, and arsenic was readily available. (It was used to control vermin.) Apparently, it's still possible to buy arsenic. Here's a headline from The Guardian Newspaper: "Toxic chemicals such as strychnine, arsenic and cyanide are freely available for sale on the internet, leading toxicologists have warned." Not a happy thought.There's hardly a cheerful moment in this movie, and yet I enjoyed it. Joanne Froggatt is a brilliant actress. Freed from ensemble work, she can show the breadth and depth of her talent. Even if the film is depressing, it's still worth seeing just to watch Froggatt act.

Fact-based story about a serial killer, who marries multiple times, only to kill her husbands, & the children she had with them, so that she can claim the insurances on her dead mates. Joanna Froggatt of 'Downton Abbey' fame, stars as Mary Ann Mowbray, who poisons everyone who gets in her way of her goals. Her final mistake comes when she murders her step-son. Finally she is caught. She is arrested, tried and convicted of this one murder. She is sentenced to death by hanging.

Not sure which side of the bed (or whose) the other reviewer -ianlouisana got out of but maybe is a relation to Boris or permanently repressed. I found this two part serial compelling viewing, well researched, flavour and atmosphere of the times reminiscent of The Village with John Simm and Maxine Peake. Women in Victorian times had a place in society that was subservient and dependent upon male vanity and compassion. Not until after WWI, despite some notable exceptions, do they gain the independence of spirit and opportunity to exist outside the bounds of duty and childbirth. This tale relates the story of a tormented soul torn between the poorhouse and an institution she cannot or will not join. Serial killers deserve to be hanged (so was the punishment of the day) regardless of their gender. Watch and be moved by this TV drama.

Carelessly written (viz above) monotonously depressing,permanently gloomy piece that I have read elsewhere as being presented as a portrait of a "Strong Woman"in an overwhelmingly male - dominated society. Don't you believe it. "Dark Angel" allegedly tells the story of reputedly the first woman serial killer, a vicious yet pathetic creature who murders at will despite knowing she will assuredly hang( or because,possibly). Starting with a jolly scene in the Death Cell things go downhill quickly as the Dark Angel murders baby and adult alike until even the Victorian plod begin to suspect something about her is amiss. I daresay today she would plead childhood abuse and have any surviving children returned to her and be awarded a full - time team of social workers. Everybody overacts like mad and the Lothario gets a knee - trembler in the first reel before he even knows her name as far as I can make out. It has been said that Victorian working - class women either sold their bodies or sewed shirts ( a contemporary painting "The song of the shirt" offers the clues snapped up by eager middle - class Gallery - goers)The Dark Angel showed there was a "Third Way" with a result that was only too predictable.