Everyone's favourite pickpocket prostitute is back and this time she's Alex Kingston. Well, it was 1996 when the future River Song starred as Moll Flanders in an ITV series based on Daniel Defoe's 1722 novel. Kingston, as she was destined to be on Doctor Who, diminished her character with broad mugging but I liked the supporting performances by Daniel Craig and Diana Rigg.
Craig plays Moll's third husband, the one she really falls for. Despite the fact that this was long before he became James Bond, his role was beefed up so that he could appear in all four episodes of the series and thus take second billing. Rigg plays the mother figure Moll tragically encounters in Virginia and she's also quite good.
Unfortunately, it's Kingston at the rudder for the duration and her broad, winking performance, along with several of her costars' similar performances, sap the story of much of its complexity. There's little ambiguity as to whether Moll's path was of her own choosing or one inevitably laid out for her by society and circumstance, though much of the dialogue nods in that direction. Kingston even looks directly at the camera at moments and insipidly asks, "What would you do?"
It is admirable just how much of the story is adapted, though. Fans of the novel will find things to appreciate.
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