There are several ‘distressing’ details that were excluded from The Sixth Commandment

The Sixth Commandment is BBC One’s four-part true crime drama which details the true story about the deaths of Peter Farquhar and his neighbour Ann Moore-Martin. Like many true crime dramatisations, no stone is left unturned in The Sixth Commandment and viewers have given the full story of Ben Field’s crimes, however there are some “distressing” details that are missed out in the series.

The show’s writer, Sarah Phelps, created the drama through extensive research, interviews and published accounts. Following the premiere of the series, Sarah has revealed she felt certain details “needed to be left out”.

via BBC

Speaking to the BBC, Sarah said the families of the victim were at the “forefronts of her mind” while writing the scripts.

“It’s very difficult for them to revisit these events,” she explained. “What I didn’t want to do was to cause them even more distress. I had to make some choices about what I was going to leave out, because as I’m sure you can imagine, some of the details are really, really distressing.”

What does The Sixth Commandment leave out?

When Ben Field moves in with Peter Farquhar, viewers see Ben bring Peter countless cups of tea and suggest to Peter’s brother that Peter has a drinking problem.

Once Field and convinced Peter Farquhar to write him into his will, Field began to poison the former teacher with alcohol and drugs. In Channel 4’s Catching a Killer documentary, it details that Ben Field kept a journal for the dosages as well as a video collection of Peter Farquhar in a drug fuelled state.

via BBC

Prosecutors on the case also detailed that Ben Field would secretly hide Peter Farquhar’s belongings and delete contacts on his phone, something he wrote about in his journals.

In the BBC series, viewers watch the jury deliberate the case and a flashback takes place to see Peter’s last night in which we see Field had been at the house. While viewers are shown a snapshot of what had happened to Peter, his final moments are not fully shown.

According to prosecutors, Ben Field suffocated Peter Farquhar when he was too weak.

Thames Valley Police detective Mark Glover said at the time about Ben Field: “The extent of his planning, deception and cruelty towards his victims is frankly staggering, and I do not believe he has ever shown an ounce of remorse or contrition.

“If he is sorry for anything it is that he got caught.”

All episodes of The Sixth Commandment are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Where is Ben Field now? The Sixth Commandment tells the harrowing true story of his crimes

• Financial crimes, boobs and a doll empire: Inside Barbie creator Ruth Handler’s wild life

• Martyn Smith was on trial alongside Ben Field, but what happened to him?

Featured image credit via BBC.