[1] The novel was adapted for television by playwright Tony Marchant, and was directed by Julian Jarrold.

[2] John Simm stars as Rodya Raskolnikov, a former student who plans the murder of a pawnbroker to alleviate his financial problems, but also as an existential exercise, feeling himself able to commit such acts without guilt, remorse or justification.

He is a very intelligent guy, who is slowly driven to madness by the things he sees around him.

"[5] The series gathered mixed reviews in the press, with The Guardian claiming that "As Raskolnikov, the murderer, John Simm is the spindle the whole thing whirls around.

In the current Augean state of the stables, I am not able to find fault with this well-bred winner"; while The Telegraph were more scathing, writing "It's as if scriptwriter Tony Marchant and director Julian Jarrold had decided to take the setting and crime-drama structure of Crime and Punishment and ditch the philosophical core, the engine that gives everything meaning.