Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
Wicked Little Letters – Netflix
Straight from the 1920’s British headlines, “Wicked Little Letters” is based on the strange true story of a lonely spinster named Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and her outspoken Irish neighbor Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley) who were embroiled in a scandal that rocked the seaside town of Littlehampton and had the nation in an uproar. The situation involved local residents receiving anonymous wicked letters filled with outrageous profanities, and since Rose was well-known for her foul-mouthed behavior she was arrested for writing the letters.
Rose was a single mother who said her husband had died in the war, leaving her to raise their daughter Nancy with her new partner Bill. Initially Rose had been friends with Edith and her parents Edward (Timothy Spall) and Victoria (Gemma Jones) until Rose beat up one of Edward’s guests at his birthday party. Soon after Rose was visited by the local child protective services and believing it was due to Edward ended her friendship. Then profanity-filled letters began arriving at the their home, and after receiving the 19th letter Edward contacted the local constable.
Edith blamed Rose, who was arrested but because she couldn’t afford bail she was sent to jail until her trial date over two months later. Fortunately Bill was there to take care of Nancy and Rose also had an ally on the police force, Police Officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) who noticed differences in Rose’s handwriting to those in the letter, but was shutdown by her boss Chief Constable Spedding. Due to Gladys being the only female officer on the force, she was constantly dismissed and was told specifically that handwriting evidence did not count and to stay out of the investigation.
Though no one else was aware, Edith had been writing the letters as a form of therapy for her repressed anger toward her father Edward’s controlling abusive treatment toward her. Edith addressed another profane hate-filled letter to herself, but her mother got the mail and in opening the letter had a heart attack and died. Gladys was very concerned that Rose had been arrested unjustly, and gathered a small group of women who were Edith’s friends, Ann, Mabel and Kate, who felt similarly about Rose’s innocence to try to help Rose.
Ann and Mabel bailed out Rose a couple of weeks before the trial, but on the eve of the trail Rose noticed the handwriting on the sign of a local ice cream shop was distinctly similar to that of the letters. During the trial, Rose was confronted about her brash behavior and had no issue with embracing it, but also commented that she had no problem confronting people face-to-face and would not use letter writing to express herself to others. Rose’s attorney attempted to use the compelling evidence of the differences in handwriting but was also dismissed.
Gladys and Edith’s friends had a strong suspicion that Edith would write a last letter before Rose would be found guilty and incarcerated, so Gladys hatched a very clever plan to catch Edith in the act. Gladys’ plan included the use of invisible ink, had witnesses to confirm the truth and even enlisted the help of her niece to intercept the letter for evidence. Once the truth was brought to light, Rose was exonerated and Edith was arrested, found guilty and was sentenced to twelve months hard labor, though seemed relieved by finally be away from her controlling father.
Gladys Moss, who never gave up fighting to prove Rose’s innocence regardless of the obstacles in her path, has an English Heritage blue plaque in Littlehampton recognizing her as the First Woman Police Officer in West Sussex and for her tenacious efforts to reveal the truth.
Runtime: 1h 42m
