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| “ | Well I do hope you're not going to forget about her. The man who caused this dreadful accident is still out there somewhere... | „ |
| ~ Malcolm's most famous quote when talking to a police officer who was unaware of his true nature. |
Malcolm John Webster is the titular main antagonist of the 2014 ITV miniseries The Widower. He is a manipulative, cold-hearted, controlling and egotistical man with a severe authority problem leading him down an incredibly dark and disturbing path.
He is based on the real life serial killer of the same name.
He was portrayed by Reece Shearsmith who also played Edward Tattsyrup, Ross Gaines, Geoff Tipps Papa Lazarou, Bernice Woodall, Judee Levinson, Oliver Plimsoles, Cathy Carter-Smith and Father Halfhearte in The League of Gentlemen, Mr. Jelly, Maureen Sowerbutts Jeremy Goode and the Silent Singer in Psychoville, Ray, Tom, Hector, Dr. Maxwell, Mr. Warren, George, Dr. Jacob Tyler, David, Henry, Viktor, Neville Griffin and SPC Varney in Inside No. 9, Gagan Rassmussen in Doctor Who and one third of the Vogons in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film adaptation.
Biography[]
We are introduced to Malcolm in episode one when his marriage to Claire Webster happens, a flash forward shows the two three months later living in a new cottage in Aberdeen where Claire is growing concerned over Malcolm's reckless spending. Malcolm in response acts as though she's being unreasonable with him and constantly gaslights her over her rightful financial concerns. During his shift that night at the hospital he treats a sick young boy crying in bed however takes his Temazepam pills for himself for his own gain. Malcolm decides to buy Claire two cats to soften the blow of his spending, and although adoring the cats she is affronted when he reveals they cost £100 each before requesting to help him go through his bank statements and cheque book that night to see what they need to do. Malcolm begrudgingly accepts and offers to make her some tea, unknowing to Claire however he puts crushed Temazepam in with her drink and continues to do so for weeks on end leaving her in dreadfully ill state. Eventually he decides to stop, citing his reason for doing it in the first place as disliking people telling him what to do, however after another argument with Claire over his reckless spending getting them both caught into financial trouble and her revealing that she's been to see her doctor over her condition he decides to crush more of the substance into a water bottle. He then takes her into the car for "Air" as he supposedly has work to drop off at the hospital and when she drowsily awakens he gives her the bottle, telling her to keep her fluids up. After a while Claire dosed off again and Malcolm deliberately crashed the car into a tree before weakly walked up the hill toward a man in a van who was driving past. Malcolm feigning injury asked the man to get help and he complies, driving to the nearby local farm. While waiting Malcolm douses his car in gasoline before throwing a match into it and running back up the hill and faking a collapse onto the ground. As soon as his "help" arrives the car explodes killing Claire instantly.
At her funeral Malcolm reads a speech bidding her goodbye tearfully, before returning home and crying into the mirror for a moment before immediately pulling back into a neutral expression and examining how convincing it looked. He is then met with a police officer apologetically telling him that they've had to pull back the investigation on Claire's death, Malcolm puts on his mask once again and melancholically thanks the officer for his time but asks he not forget about Claire.
Several years later Malcolm moves all across the world, eventually winding up in New Zealand were he marries a new woman named Felicity. Almost immediately he begins using the same tactics on her that he used for Claire however and is more successful in covering his tracks, the new couple moved back to Scotland apparently due to Malcolm's mother's declining health and they make a home in a brand new cottage, new into their arrival Malcolm decides to pay a visit to Claire's grave lying to Felicity beforehand by saying he was travelling into town to meet some old friends. At Claire's grave Malcolm begins repeating to her over and over in a dull and monotone fashion that she knows what happened was an accident and that he had to swerve the car. Another flash forward shows Felicity arguing with Malcolm over his reckless spending much like Claire's old arguments with him albeit less heated. In response Malcolm promises to change his ways all the while continuing to poison her behind her back.
On one day Malcolm decides to take Felicity on a trip to the coast and prepares to kill her by pushing her from a clifftop to her death, although changes his mind when she reveals to him that she's pregnant. After their son is born the two move back into New Zealand and live with Felicity's parents while trying to buy a new house where a heavily in debt Malcolm manipulates Felicity into making a double account with him, he also sets fire to her parent's house but thankfully everyone survives.
Personality[]
Malcolm was a charming, cunning, manipulative and opportunistic man who cared about nobody aside from himself essentially, viewing even those closest to him as prized objects more than anything else. He was also incredibly impulsive as shown by his reckless spending and was entitled to the point of deliberately hurting those around him for doing things such as telling him what to do. He was also prone to volatile bursts of anger and wasn't above gaslighting, guilt tripping and bullying the women he married for trivial things. On top of all of this he was cold, calculating and uncaring, going as far as to try and kill his own wives just for the sake of insurance profit.
Appearance[]
Malcolm was a handsome, lean man in thirties of short stature with white skin, blue eyes and a thick head of dark hair which he later shaved off to believably pull off his leukaemia stunt along with his eyebrows.
He has an average albeit slightly smarter than typical fashion sense.
Trivia[]
- Reece Shearsmith is a fan of true crime in real life and has extensive knowledge on serial killers (he actually referenced this himself for the creation of David and Maureen Sowerbutts in Psychoville) however he has said before that although he didn't regret taking up the role he felt very uncomfortable acting as Malcolm Webster and developed a naturally extreme dislike for him the more he learned about him and found it difficult at times to play him on top of not feeling like himself for some time after completing the role thanks to needing to shave his head midway through production.