Fingersmith (TV serial)

Fingersmith
Promotional picture for Fingersmith
Based on	Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Written by	Peter Ransley (screenplay) Sarah Waters (novel)
Directed by	Aisling Walsh
Starring	Sally Hawkins Imelda Staunton Elaine Cassidy Rupert Evans Charles Dance
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
Production
Running time	181 min (2 parts)
Release
Original network	BBC One
Original release	27 March 2005

Fingersmith is a two-part BBC mini-series that was televised in 2005.

The story, which is an adaptation of Sarah Waters' Man Booker Prize nominatednovel, follows the meeting of two very different young women and what madness ensues. Directed by Aisling Walsh, it stars Sally Hawkins, Imelda Staunton, Elaine Cassidy, Rupert Evans and Charles Dance.

The mini-series was nominated for Best Drama Serial at the 2006 British Academy Television Awards.

The lives of two young women collide in Victorian England when a group of thieves concoct an elaborate scam to defraud a young heiress of her inheritance. The story alternates between the twisting back alleyways of Dickensian London and the cloistered gloom of a Gothic mansion in 1862.

Since she was orphaned, Sue Trinder (Sally Hawkins) has been brought up amongst thieves and charlatans. She has been protected and cared for by Mrs Sucksby (Imelda Staunton) and taught to become a fingersmith (a pickpocket). But when Mrs Sucksby's old friend Richard Rivers (Rupert Evans), known as Gentleman, offers 20-year-old Sue £2,000 to assist him in one of his scams, she cannot resist.

Passing himself off as a proper gent, Rivers has befriended a young lady, Maud Lilly (Elaine Cassidy), who stands to inherit a fortune when she marries. However, Maud's maid has recently left her service and, without a chaperone, Rivers' access to Maud is limited. He wants Sue to be accepted as the new maid and to help him win Maud over. Once married, Rivers plans to have Maud committed to an asylum and he will then take her fortune for himself.