do we believe her?

I watched it too and found it very interesting What a strange personality Lady Lucan seems to have, so calm and almost detached like she was talking about someone else no animation or emotion in her eyes
She had a difficult life for sure but losing her children she seemed so accepting and unmoved by it all Maybe she's on medication she did say she'd had a mental health diagnosis earlier She seemed to have very clear recall on all details but total acceptance of each situation she doesn't appear to have any relationship with her children I d have been howling my eyes out she was so composed

I agree, its almost that by shutting down her emotions she can cope, maybe if she allowed them to show she would breakdown completely and go under. So sad and such a waste of someones life.

What a brute he was. Coercive control has been given a lot of publicity in recent months as a recognised form of serious domestic abuse but I think it was unheard of in those days.

I kept thinking of The Archers storyline - convincing a wife she's mentally ill which is easy when she's already on shaky ground with her mental health. A violent outcome is almost inevitable.

The aristocracy were often very cold to their offspring. In some ways you could say they deserved each other but I felt terribly sorry for her. Why did her children abandon her so cruelly?

I'm also puzzled as to how she can survive on a state pension in a wealthy part of London. Surely she must have some private funds?

In answer to the OP. Yes, I believe her.

Yes I also believed her.
Travelsafar, I agree with you I think she was keeping herself composed for the interview, which was very well done. It left me feeling very very sad for her.

I didn't see the programme but read an article about it. Even in her wedding photo and the other photos there was no smile or even expression which seemed strange.

The woman has a history of mental health illness, marrying a bastard made things worse.

I do believe her.

At one time I thought her lip was visibly trembling and she was trying to keep control of her emotions. We don't know what kind of upbringing she had, perhaps very detached from her own parents which is how many children of wealthy families were raised in those times.
She did say that 'all my relationships are cold' which I found very sad.
She still seemed to be defending him when she said she thought he must have jumped off a cross-channel ferry and I think she was trying to convince herself that he had not meant any of what happened and did the 'heroic thing' by committing suicide.

However, personally I think he was a nasty, controlling bully and did manage to escape with the help of his equally despicable friends.

She faced the wrath of the aristocracy and her own children because she told the truth about the murder and attempted murder,

I believed her, and do you know what ? I think she still bloody loves him.Her life revolved around him and his shady antics, in a way it seemed she had already given up her children to do his bidding abroad and at parties etc whilst they stayed with their Nanny.

It made for uncomfortable viewing as we heard what a perverse man he really was, and how she as a victim had become so accustomed to it.

It was good to hear another account of it though.

Yes rocketstop I think she was a victim from the beginning of their relationship.

We must never forget that Sandra Rivett had a child too who was adopted before all this happened.

I meant to watch it but I forgot but read an interview. It must be awful to be married to a gambler as they put all their energies onto the next bet.
What a horrible man to act as he did. What a sad life for her.

Didn't Sandra Rivett's child (a son, I think) surface in the news not so long ago? I can't remember why - was it when Lord Lucan was finally declared dead and his son inherited?

I was surprised Lady L did not seem such a victim as she has been portrayed. I thought she came over as a fairly tough old lady typical of her class and upbringing. I wonder if she ever made attempts to see her children over the years. I bet that programme won't have helped to breach the gap, unfortunately.

Lady Lucan was not aristocracy, she was the daughter of an army major

Sandra Rivets had a son who was placed for adoption, as was the case with many babies born out of marriage. I read he only discovered the truth about his mother when he began to seek out the files relating to his adoption. The adoption was a happy one he said but of course, he is saddened about what happened so he can never meet his birth mother.

I wasn't convinced, especially when the attack took place and she ran away. She said she could barely move, but then managed to run out of the house and down he road.

I wondered if she was rewriting history.

No doubt he was a bully though.

I didn't watch the programme.

I wasn't convinced, especially when the attack took place and she ran away. She said she could barely move, but then managed to run out of the house and down he road.

Convinced of what?

I worked for many years in the street where the murder took place - long after the event. The distance from the house to the pub is very short particularly as Lady Lucan would have been running for her life and high on adrenaline.

I used to see her out and about, looking a troubled soul, so assume that she still lived in the area in the 80/90s.

But let's not forget the real victim here, Sandra Rivett, who was a young woman in her 20s.

The Lucan children could well have been damaged by their childhood as another nanny, Christabel Martin, was also murdered

I saw this programme by chance. I felt desperately sorry for Lady Lucan. She was so obviously holding herself together with immense effort. Everything she said was so factual, she did not try and milk the story for sympathy for herself or to blacken her husband - and the temptation to do that must have been strong.

It was obvious that she was an emotional vulnerable young woman and controlling men like Lucan have an instinct for such women. She was also unprotected. She had married well above her social group and her sister was clearly, through her husband on Lucan's side from day 1.

I am six years her junior, but like her the daughter of an army major and as I watched the programme and she talked about the time she met and married Lord Lucan. How at 26 she was close to being on the shelf, In effect saying what Jane Austen's wrote 150 years earlier, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want.

I remembered that the very same time, I was living and working in much the same part of London as her, but I had a good education, a university degree, a good job and hopes of a successful career. For me marriage was not an essential in my life.

Whoops, posted too early.

I was very conscious of how two women of similar age and background in the same part of the same city could live such utterly different lives. One so full of hope, the other so empty.

A very sad woman with a very sad story. You feel for Sandra Rivett and for the children. It seems to me that Lucan damaged everything he touched.

I think lady lucan was a cold bitch right b4 she met another cold caiculating bastard.The nanny b4 sandra had one day off per week and instead of looking after her iwn children on that day she hired another nanny .But all wonen of ger rank are brought uo to fob there kids off since birth.Also she kept fightibg for custody only to stop hin from getting the kif u ask me they were two cold selfishbastards who should never had any kids ans those kids and poor sandra are the reak victims here.

Shd av previewed sorry

I watched with interest, Lucan was controlling, a gambler, I don't think she had much say in what happened within the marriage or probably about the employment of nannies or the children. She had Mental problems, I think if I had been in her position I too would have crumbled.

I do think she fled for her life that night, if you've never been in that situation you don't know what it feels like. I believe she was an an abused wife all through her marriage, that saps your self-esteem