Even if you hate true crime, you should watch The Sixth Commandment | Rachel Cooke
Even if you hate true crime, you should watch The Sixth Commandment The Guardian
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The Sixth Commandment
It’s hard to imagine better television – more dignified, more noticing – than The Sixth Commandment, which began last week on BBC1.
Mostly, I loathe true crime. To make entertainment of the horrifying acts of a Dennis Nilsen or a Jeffrey Dahmer isn’t just gratuitously exploitative; it can only bring more pain to those who loved the men they killed.
But this drama about Peter Farquhar, a retired schoolteacher who was murdered in 2015 by Benjamin Field, a man about 40 years his junior, is of a different order altogether. More interested in Field’s victims than in his crimes – he also preyed on Farquhar’s elderly neighbour, Ann Moore-Martin – its screenwriter, Sarah Phelps, attends fully to the loneliness of old age, and by doing so, asks difficult questions of us all.
But there’s something else. In a series replete with brilliant actors – Anne Reid and Éanna Hardwicke are astonishing as Moore-Martin and Field – Timothy Spall’s turn as Farquhar, a closeted gay man, stands out, not so much a performance as an inhabitation. It is extraordinary: beautiful, and moving. Here, you think, is an actor who can do just about anything, his empathy a kind of skeleton key, there to unlock even the most complicated human being.
Will this role, for which he’s surely destined to win awards, drive a decisive nail into the coffin of the fashionable conviction that actors should only be cast as characters whose sexuality matches their own? I hope fervently that it will.
Every line Spall speaks stands as a reminder that finding an affinity with another person, however different they may be from yourself, is what both acting, and leading a decent life, are all about.
Potshots at Gove
In York for the weekend, I visit the city’s art gallery to see Wall of Women, a new display whose title is self-explanatory (of 675 potters in the collection of its Centre for Ceramic Art, 40% are female). There’s a lot to look at, and all of it great, but the work that speaks most loudly to me on the day
SDGs, Targets, and Indicators Analysis
1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?
- SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
- SDG 5: Gender Equality
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
- SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?
- SDG 3.4: By 2030, reduce by one-third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.
- SDG 5.1: End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
- SDG 10.2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic or other status.
- SDG 11.7: By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive, and accessible, green, and public spaces, particularly for women and children, older persons, and persons with disabilities.
- SDG 16.1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere.
3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?
- Indicator for SDG 3.4: Mortality rate attributed to non-communicable diseases.
- Indicator for SDG 5.1: Proportion of women subjected to physical, sexual, or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the past 12 months.
- Indicator for SDG 10.2: Proportion of people living below 50 percent of median income, disaggregated by age, sex, and persons with disabilities.
- Indicator for SDG 11.7: Proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements, or inadequate housing.
- Indicator for SDG 16.1: Homicide rate per 100,000 population, by sex and age.
Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators
| SDGs | Targets | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being | Target 3.4: By 2030, reduce by one-third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being. | Mortality rate attributed to non-communicable diseases. |
| SDG 5: Gender Equality | Target 5.1: End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere. | Proportion of women subjected to physical, sexual, or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the past 12 months. |
| SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities | Target 10.2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic or other status. | Proportion of people living below 50 percent of median income, disaggregated by age, sex, and persons with disabilities. |
| SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities | Target 11.7: By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive, and accessible, green, and public spaces, particularly for women and children, older persons, and persons with disabilities. | Proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements, or inadequate housing. |
| SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions | Target 16.1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere. | Homicide rate per 100,000 population, by sex and age. |
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Source: theguardian.com
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