Capturing Mary

Capturing Mary is a BBC television drama coproduced by HBO, written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff. It was aired on BBC Two onNovember 2007. It is linked, by the central character of Joe, to another Poliakoff drama, Joes Palace, which was first aired onNovember 2007.

Moving from room to room, she tells Joe of the 1950s high society soirees she was invited to in the house. She recalls how Mr Grahams soirees were attended by the great and the good the aristocracy, the nouveaux riche, industrialists, newspaper barons, editors, actors, directors, and so forth. She tells Joe that she has been haunted by the memory of a sinister man named Greville White whom she met one evening in the house. Greville White turns out to be a social climber whose influence reached into high society. Mary recalls that he was supremely charming, but utterly evil. We see Greville and the young Mary Ruth Wilson in Mr Grahams cellar selecting fine wines for a salad that he has prepared. In the cellar, Greville tells Mary of dark secrets involving members of the British Establishment who are enjoying Mr Grahams soiree in the rooms above them. The secrets involve child abuse, sexual perversion, antisemitism, and racism amongst the great and the good.He feigns friendship with Mary, but she rejects him because of his malevolent powers. Greville retaliates by using his influence over the newspaper proprietors to deny her continued work in Britain. The audience encounters subsequent meetings between the two in the 1950s and 1960s at Mr Grahams soirees and other social events. We see the sinister destruction of Marys life as she becomes preoccupied by Grevilles influence on her and her slide into despair and alcoholism. ........

Source: Wikipedia