Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

TV review – The Staircase: Death by owl? I’ll go to the foot of our stairs!

© WarnerMediaColin Firth and Toni Collette as Michael and Kathleen Petersen in The Staircase
Colin Firth and Toni Collette as Michael and Kathleen Petersen in The Staircase

Recently Amanda Seyfried starred in Apple TV+’s series The Dropout, a dramatisation of tech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes’ rise and fall from tech graduate to billion-dollar girl boss to woman who tried to claim, like Father Ted, that the money was just resting in her account.

You can’t help but think of The Dropout when watching The Staircase.

Not that the stories have too many similarities; Holmes was an unsavoury swindler but looks like Dame Judi Dench when compared to shifty Michael Peterson.

The mild-mannered former soldier claimed he found his wife’s body at the foot of the titular Staircase; he first said she slipped, then that she’d been attacked by an owl. Don’t you hate when you nip up to the loo and get savaged by a nocturnal raptor? I’m forever fending off barn owls if I leave the hall window open.

Colin Firth is in fine form, treading the line between fragility and menace the real Peterson displayed.

You can get a taste for yourself if you watch Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s 2004 documentary about the case; and that’s the problem.

Like The Dropout and the podcast which spawned the series, the original material is the most satisfying way to experience The Staircase.

Seyfried and Firth do fine jobs, but hearing these characters speak in their own words? With The Staircase, the original remains the first step.


The Staircase, Sky Atlantic