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The life of Mary Whitehouse, the British activist who fought the BBC over television decency standards, is explored in the latest installment in the Masterpiece Contemporary series.

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What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Entertainment WeeklyAdam Markovitz

The plot--based on a true story--drags, but Walters is a hoot as a prig who thinks she can stave off the swingin' '60s with a wagging finger.

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Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara

A lively, thought-provoking and often humorous quasi-biopic of a real-life crusader in which there are no angels, or devils either, just a nation in the midst of change for which not everyone is prepared.

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Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker

Brilliant acting propels this slight satire about Mary Whitehouse.

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The New York TimesAnita Gates

The script, by Amanda Coe, has a dexterous sense of fun.

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VarietyBrian Lowry

As played by Julie Walters, Filth is a surprisingly affectionate and sympathetic portrait of a character who easily could have been presented as a priggish scold.

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San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

Screenwriter Amanda Coe is to be credited not only for developing such rich characterizations, but also for the delicacy of the show's satiric point of view.

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Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray

Yet for all the gentle ridicule heaped on Walters' character in Filth, her Mary is closer to a three-dimensional figure than Whitehouse's nemesis, BBC head Sir Hugh Greene (Hugh Bonneville).

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Wall Street JournalDorothy Rabinowitz

Clearly, the creators of Filth (Amanda Coe, writer, Andy De Emmony, director) had their problems settling down to a comfortable tone for this figure who was, after all, famous entirely for her career on behalf of censorship. Julie Walters, who portrays her with grand and ebullient sympathy, shows evidence of no similar problems.

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LA WeeklyRobert Abele

Filth too often comes off like a strained attempt at reversing the dynamic of a Marx Brothers movie, with Whitehouse the silly, charming agitator and Greene the insufferable aesthete foil with steam blowing out of his ears.

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Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

Walters makes the movie seem like more than it is. She gives us a fully dimensional woman--an art teacher--who is idealistic, self-righteous, humorless, God-fearing, affectionate toward her students, driven, and not any one of those qualities to a great extreme.

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USA TodayRobert Bianco

Rather than balance, what you get from Filth is a gratingly smug superiority that mocks both sides while failing to make any point of its own.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this show is 9.5 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Kevin C. gave it a9:
Great performances and a fair portrayal of the real concerns that traditionalists have in the on-going culture wars. Still a timely issue 50 years on.

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Filth

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