TV review: The Girl

Her casting in The Girl (BBC2), an eerie, and at times outright un-nerving drama was a bold, but ultimately successful one.

The Anglo-American production explored the troubled relationship between legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock, and the latest in his long line of stereotyped peroxide blonde leading ladies, Tippi Hedren.

Plucked from obscurity in 1961 to appear in the master of suspense's seminal chiller The Birds (which is on ITV3 tonight), it should have been a celebratory turning point in Hedren's life; a springboard to an amazing career.

Instead, she became the object of an increasingly obsessed Hitchcock's affections, to the point where he attempted to sexually assault her on more than one occasion, and then punished her for refusing to give into his charms.

Certainly that's how this drama invited us to believe things . . . and since Hedren herself co-operated with the production, it's sure to be pretty close to the mark.

There were several very powerful sequences, none more so than the recreation of the film's famous attic scene when Hedren was attacked on set by real birds. The director insisted on it being re-shot so many times that the actress was traumatised, and almost hospitalised by the end of the day.

Some of the quieter moments of this HBO/BBC collaboration were equally effective, though, with sexual energy and mistrust simmering under the surface.

Overall, then, a minor triumph. Toby Jones (nominated, alongside Miller, for a Golden Globe for the performance) nailed Hitchcock's drawn-out signature voice, and the prosthetics did a good job of mimicking the pint-sized mogul's equally trademark rotund silhouette.

It's fair to say the sadness of Hitchcock came through more strongly than his genius, though, with Jones portraying him as a fat, impotent, predatory control freak so tormented by his own lack of appeal to women that he made the life of his leading ladies a living hell.

But he also revealed a shrewd, movie-making genius who – just possibly – decided he needed to frightened Hedren to garner the sort of realistic performance she lacked the acting skill to deliver on her own.

Sienna Miller managed to make us sympathise with Hedren, painting a picture of a woman who was initially in way over her head, wising up too late to spare herself lasting mental scars.

It reminded us how different things were back then. If the whole affair had happened to Hedren today, she would have been on the phone to Hollywoodlawyers.r.us faster than the average check-out at the Bates Motel.

The director would have been sued for sexual harassment, his reputation would have been in tatters, and Hedren would have been a very rich and powerful woman.

On the subject of powerful women, Imelda Staunton also put in a terrific turn here as Hitch's wife Alma, who we were led to believe knew all about Hitch's inappropriate behaviour, but chose to ignore it.

And another British stalwart, Penelope Wilton of Calendar Girls and Downton Abbey fame, brilliantly played out one tearjerking scene which saw her loyal, long-suffering secretary ruthlessly belittled by the balding bully of a boss.

Taking its inspiration from Donald Spoto's book Spellbound by Beauty, the 90-minute drama was directed in such a creepy way that you almost felt the need for a shower when it was over.

By the end, though, you felt a compelling urge to watch The Birds all over again, viewing things from a totally different perspective. And that, I suppose, means it did a pretty good job.

By Carl Jones

Did you watch The Girl last night? Do you agree with Carl? Have your say in the comments box below.