*Warning: This article contains spoilers for all episodes of A Woman of Substance – available to watch in full on Channel 4 – and discussion of rape that some readers may find distressing.*
From his first appearance in A Woman of Substance, it's clear to see that Gerald Fairley (Harry Cadby) is the kind of character who is so mean-spirited and cruel, he can't help but make your skin itch.
We saw how he cast one of the maids aside in those early episodes, engaging her in a sexual relationship and ultimately seeing her as just one of the hired help when it came time to defend her in front of his family. So deep does his disdain for the lower working classes go that it is at the forefront of his entire interaction with Emma (Jessica Reynolds) when he finds out that she's the business owner behind Hamilton Equitable.
In the sixth episode of the series, he's on a mission to find the people he owes money to, a matter that is looming like a dark cloud over his head. When he tracks down the address of the firm and finds out that it belongs to Emma, though, he merely discounts it as not being worthy of his time.
Referring to her as a "jumped up housemaid" when he's standing in her bricks and mortar store is certainly brazen, but their interaction takes a deeply sinister turn once Emma reminds him of his legally binding contract with her company. Once she tries to usher him out (with it being Christmas Day), Gerald immediately turns to physical tactics, pushing her further into her own store and berating her as a "whore", telling her that Edwin (Ewan Horrocks) is now married.
As soon as Gerald moves closer to Emma and touches her hips, I feel as though most women watching would immediately have a pit in their stomach, willing the series not to go in the direction they think it will. But unfortunately for the viewer – and ultimately, for Emma – it does.
What ensues is a truly horrifying series of events as Gerald rapes Emma while telling her of how he used to watch her in his home when she worked there as a maid. Knowing how strong-willed Emma has been throughout the drama, the small possibility of her being able to attack Gerald with a nearby object seems like a hopeful carrot dangled in front of us – but sadly, it doesn't come to fruition.
As if the scene couldn't become any more painful to watch, the camera pans to Emma's plaid skirt afterwards, now stained with "the final deposit and settlement of my account", as Gerald puts it while grinning. It's all really rather disgusting – and that feeling isn't just reserved for Gerald here.
While Gerald's deranged joy is short-lived as Emma tell him she's going to call in his collateral (the family mill), it truly is the kind of scene that warrants a pause after watching.
Rape scenes aren't exactly an easy watch for many but they aren't ones that should necessarily be shied away from, I think. After all, today's staggering statistics reveal that one in four women have been raped or sexually assaulted since the age of 16 in the UK. The impact, survival and justice aspects of those stories should be showcased. When depicting it on TV though, there should be a responsibility to ensure this 'plot device' is being handled appropriately and effectively.
My issue comes when sexual violence against women is simply a surface-level storyline without any real depth, something that many shows – and some period dramas – have been guilty of in their time. 'Should the assault be shown in great detail?' and 'What does it actually add to the story?' are both questions that more series creators should consider.
In the original novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford, the scene plays out in a similarly theatrical fashion, but is confined to a few mere paragraphs. Emma's point-of-view in the book reveals previous sexual advances and groping that Gerald subjected her to whilst working in Fairley Hall, which lays the foundation for how much of a vile character he is. With it being in the original novel, there's the case to be made that the series is simply honouring Bradford's writing.
But in the world of adaptations aplenty and series creators putting their own spin on original material, omitting entire scenes, characters and the like, this needn't have been included. More importantly, did it need to play out in such a lurid manner?
In the new TV series, the air is heavy with raw emotion in the aftermath of the scene as we see Emma going into auto-pilot, feigning smiles for her husband and their guests, and quickly changing out of her skirt once home. Her deep grounding breaths and the resulting scenes perfectly encapsulate the anachronistic attitudes around women just having to get on with whatever life threw at them.
Compared to the original 1985 three-parter where we saw Jenny Seagrove's Emma escape Gerald's violent grip by reaching for a knife and holding it to his neck, this modern iteration could have easily taken a leaf out of that seminal series. The scenes in the two series unfold in very similar ways with a weapon laying close by – surely a nod to the '80s drama – but somehow, in this new instalment, Emma is made to suffer.
In a series that's delightfully boasting a female-led creative team and is championing an assured heroine, do we really need to include such a graphic scene to underline Emma's comeback story? An arc can be triumphant without dragging a character down to life's rock bottom. What with Emma already having to face heartbreak, the death of both parents and relocation in a whole new town, surely she's been through more than any one character should take.
We clearly understand that Emma has a vendetta against the Fairleys without needing to see one of the masters of the house violate her in such an unthinkable way.
Throwing in a rape scene such as this one – where perhaps Gerald could have just been confronting and his usual classist, verbally aggressive self – appears gratuitous in the grand scheme of things. In keeping with the feeling of the time (I assume), decisions had clearly been made not to revisit the storyline later down the line. We're never steeped in Emma's emotions for too long and that's just the tone of the series.
But when we're dealing with an event such as this one, can't space be made for a female protagonist to not simply exist on a robotic plain of emotions?
Emma's blank stare at the end of the episode (alongside Gerald's accompanying narration) does eventually hint at the impact the assault has had on her, with it fuelling her plot against the wealthy family. But her mission to tear down the Fairleys was never that wavering to begin with so it remains an odd storyline inclusion, in my opinion.
I myself had to stop the episode after watching the rape scene, worried that the show was unapologetically piling too much gratuitous trauma onto Emma. It's a feeling that I think many will feel after Gerald's assault and with his words ringing through the final scenes of the episode as he becomes even more vengeful against her, it's hard not to feel utterly deflated for our protagonist.
A Woman of Substance is all about Emma's revenge plot against the Fairleys and we do know from the show's first scenes that she becomes a business mogul in her own right (when we see Brenda Blethyn take centre stage). But as to how she gets there, that's what the later episodes uncover.
Not only does she call in that collateral and acquire the mill, she also has quite the defining final confrontation scene with the Fairleys where she admonishes the entire family one-by-one. When it comes to Gerald, she simply refers to him as "a monster and a weasel of a man who preys on women in a vain attempt to feel strong in the face of his own overwhelming weaknesses".
That finale scene is a triumphant win in its own right for many reasons as Emma comes face-to-face with the family that has caused her so much pain, but did we really need Gerald's vicious scene to underline Emma's journey to eventual success?
Emma finally arrives to Fairley Hall to enact her final twist of the knife and evicts them from their stately home, delighting in telling them that she is now the official homeowner.
Ultimately, A Woman of Substance is a series that is about survival but by including a rape scene like this in the new adaptation, it's certainly taking that feeling to new heights. There will be some that won't understand why rape is being used as a plot device at all here and I have to agree.
I don't have the answers – I'm not the one who wrote the series, nor am I the one to choose whether to make Gerald's confrontation one that was simply in line with the pathetic antagonist that he is, rather than utterly violating in the way it was depicted.
I will say that Reynolds's performance is staggering throughout the series but especially in these scenes that warrant sadness, anger and sensitivity in equal measure, there's no doubt about the fact that she has made this series a special one.
But when victory comes to Emma in A Woman of Substance's final episode and she has that final moment with Gerald, I look back on the show's assault scene and wonder about removing it entirely. If not that, at least making it an off-screen moment or one that could have been handled more delicately and not with the nigh-on melodramatic nature that has worked well throughout the rest of the drama.
I think many watching A Woman of Substance will be able to appreciate Emma's eventual revenge plot and will be clapping their hands together when she does come out victorious. However, I think there will be those left feeling uneasy and realising that those dark scenes perhaps weren't necessary at all.
For support and advice on matters raised in this article, please visit www.rapecrisis.org.uk, call the 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line on 0808 500 2222 or chat to Rape Crisis online 247sexualabusesupport.org.uk.
A Woman of Substance continues on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 March at 9pm on Channel 4.
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