A woman is wrongly accused of murdering her husband in Edwardian London. Just before the outbreak of World War I, Edith Graydon married her boyfriend Percy Thomson. He survives the war but theirs is not a happy marriage. She doesn't really love him and he feels it every day. He's also possessive and their daily life is a constant battle. She meets and falls in love with Frederick Bywaters, her sister's one-time boyfriend. They have a long affair and her desperate attempts to get either a formal separation of divorce from her husband falls on deaf ears. They are at their wits end and Bywaters decides to do something about it. On a dark evening when Edith is walking with her husband, Bywaters stabs him to death. Edith is charged with murder along with Bywaters and both are found guilty. She claims her innocence right up until the day they are both executed by hanging in 1923. Based on a true story.
Natasha Little
as Edith Jessie Thompson
Nick Moran
as Percy Thompson
Ioan Gruffudd
as Frederick Edward Francis Bywaters
Imelda Staunton
as Ethel Graydon
Tom Wilkinson
as Mr. Carlton
Rachael Stirling
as Avis Graydon
Diana Coupland
as Mrs. Lester
Michael Bertenshaw
as William Graydon
Daniel Brocklebank
as Newnie
Elizabeth McKechnie
as Mrs. Thompson
Judy Clifton
as Nora Lester
Simon Paris
as Sgt. Mew
