MALVERN hit the small screen at the weekend as the BBC aired a dramatisation of a sensational 19th Century murder case involving one of the biggest names in the town's history.
The documentary, A Most Mysterious Murder: The Case of Charles Bravo, was shown on BBC1 on Saturday and focused on the poisoning of the lawyer Charles Bravo at his home, The Priory, Balham, in April 1876.
Julian Fellowes, screenwriter of the Oscar-winning film Gosford Park, examined in the programme the motivation and opportunity for each of the suspects to commit the murder.
Bravo had only recently married the beautiful widow and heiress, Florence Ricardo, whose former lover Dr James Gully, one of the founding father's of Malvern's Water Cure, was touted as a likely suspect.
Dr Gully, who lived in a house on the site of the present Council House, the headquarters of Malvern Hills District Council, met Florence when she came to Malvern in 1870 for a rest cure and to escape her alcoholic first husband, Alexander Louis Ricardo.
Florence was forced to reveal details of her unhappy marriage and previous relations with Dr Gully during the inquest.
The case has mystified generations of sleuths, including Agatha Christie, and Cheltenham author James Ruddick wrote a book on the subject - Death at the Priory - Love, Sex and Murder in Victorian England.
His sources included Pamela Hurle's Portrait of Malvern, Malvern-based crime writer Richard Whittington-Egan and water cure authorities Dr John Harcup and Cora Weaver - a Malvern Civic Society member.
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