TV REVIEW : A Peculiarly British Murder Tale

Those who cherish the untidyness of life--unsolved murder cases, for example--will relish the ambiguity in tonight’s BBC “Mystery!” (at 8 on Channel 50, 9 on Channels 28 and 15).

The episode, “The Man from the Pru,” re-creates the principal characters and circumstances of a real-life 1931 domestic slaying in Liverpool, which hostess Diana Rigg, quoting Raymond Chandler, calls “the impossible murder . . . the nonpareil of all murder mysteries.”

The production is a peculiarly British detective story (at times excruciatingly so in its mannered precision and formality). The crime itself is squalid and almost ordinary. What’s addictive about it is its impenetrability.

Jonathan Pryce (currently the star of “Miss Saigon” on Broadway) plays the accused husband, a pallid life insurance collector named William Herbert Wallace who was sentenced to hang for his wife’s murder and then freed on appeal. (Wallace died two years after the verdict, and the notorious case is unsolved 60 years later.)

Pryce is fascinating as a mousy gentleman in his bowler, gray suit and wire-rimmed glasses who internalizes his feelings. In fact, the script (by Robert Smith) dramatically exploits the character’s attraction to stoicism and the philosophical writings of Marcus Aurelius, creating a drama of character as much as one of convoluted plot.

It’s nice to see Susannah York pop up in a supporting role as the victim’s sister. Anna Massey is the lonely wife. And, finally, director Rob Rohrer drenches the screen in atmosphere, in the damp alleys, bustling streetcars and misty sounds of Liverpool, where the movie was shot.