The film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival[1] and was released in the UK on 7 April 2006.[2] In the United States, it had a limited theatrical release at three screens on 7 June 2007, grossing $21,766. It was released on DVD on 30 October 2007.[3]
Commissioned as a television film in 2004,[4]Pierrepoint was broadcast on ITV on 25 August 2008, when it attracted an estimated audience of 3.6 million.[5] The film was renamed Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman for its North American release, although Pierrepoint was not the last British hangman.
Premise
The props used in the film, now on display at Wandsworth Prison museum
The film is loosely based on the life of Britain's most prolific hangman, Albert Pierrepoint (played by Timothy Spall), from the time he is trained for the job and accepted onto the list of the country's official hangmen in 1932 until his resignation in 1956.
The film is a highly fictionalised account of his life and has a strong anti-capital punishment theme. A number of executions occur out of sequence and there are a number of factual errors, such as female prison warders being present at female executions and two newly qualified executioners working together as "Number One" and "Assistant".
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 77% based on 53 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Director Adrian Shergold doesn't shy away from the darker elements of the movie's subject, and Timothy Spall is mesmerizing as the title character."[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".[8]
