Caught In A Trap: Review
What an excellent bit of Boxing Day entertainment this was! Connie Fisher’s portrayal of the church mouse and light fingered Gemma Perkins was brilliant and showed what a truly versatile and talented actor she is. I loved Joe Absolom in the role of stuttering and shy would be suitor Marcus too.
In case you missed it, this adaptation – based on a true story – centred around Gemma Perkins, a lonely, shy young woman who sought solace in her secret passion – Elvis Presley. Gemma’s obsessed with the rock and roll legend and he never lets her down, unlike every other aspect of her life.
Living at home with her overbearing step-mother and down trodden father, Gemma had a boring, and low paid job emptying car park meters. She had few friends and didn’t seem to ‘fit in’ anywhere.
But then her life took a dramatic turn when she found an easy way to fund her obsession with Elvis Presley by stealing from the parking meters. She then found that spending gave her a sense of excitement and fulfillment that she’d never experienced before.
So she started to ‘dip’ into cash from the parking meters more and more often until she’d stolen over £200,000 all of which she spent on Elvis memorabilia as well as a couple of gifts for her dad.
Of course, she got found out and had to face a trial, which was truly difficult to watch as this naïve young woman then faced a custodial sentence for the thefts.
Connie Fisher’s portrayal of Gemma was outstanding. I felt sorry for her and really didn’t want her to go to prison. The only time I sort of didn’t like her was when she lied to poor Marcus who clearly loved her and should’ve been treated better, but it was all ok in the end when he stuck by her while she was in prison and she ended up caring about him back.
Geraldine James was great as Joyce, the step-mother who didn’t seem to like either Gemma or her father very much and Jim Carter as Gemma’s dad Brian topped off a cast list that must have had Connie in awe.
To be a relative newbie in the starring role with names like those as supporting cast would have had me running for the hills but again, Connie showed her true mettle and will doubtless be on our screens a great deal more next year.
In case you didn’t get to see it, you can watch it on itv.com’s catch up service.
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Connie was brilliant, and as a former Elvis ‘nut’ myself, she had my sympathies. I was in tears [although men don't do such things]
Connie was brillant in this role. She actually made me feel sorry for poor Gemma. I was not expecting that as when I read the story in the press I thought that the woman must have been stupid to think she would get away with such a thing. Now I feel more compassion for Gemma.
I was especially happy to hear the REAL Elvis singing through out the program and not a warbling Wanna Be.
GREAT JOB!
i finded the drama…not really good, i’m no elvis fan and my mam is..but we both find it some parts insulting to a rock and roll legend, i think character need’s to be stop being obsessive.
i got to praise the acting of connie fisher though,because she does the parts of the film right..but the film overall is insulting.
i really only watched it because i thought connie fisher was fantastic as maria in the west end. But i loved the programme and thought that connie’s portrayal of gemma was just brilliant. I was also staggered by the fact that someone out there spent over 200 000 on memrobilia and found the whole show very interesting and am very glad i watched it
The idea was good and the music was good but ultimately the play was unsatisfying as she just went to prison.
I was hoping therer would be an interesting resolution of the story.
Perhaps she had learnt and her boyfriend who she had never acknowleldged as such would stand by her eventhough she had treated him badly.
No excuse that it was based on a true story. It if want true stories I will read the papers not watch drama on television.
Brilliant!!!What a fantastic start to Connie’s TV career.Great acting throughout.Little Gemma was so sweet.Great match.Well done all involved.