Death in Small Doses

Death in Small Doses (1995)

We all have a secret. Hers is a killer.

One night Nancy Lyon awakes in pain and dies shortly after - poisoned with arsenic. Her family immediately suspects her husband Richard, who left her temporarily the year before because of an affair. Especially Nancy's brother is keen on getting the children away from the suspected murderer. All evidence points against Richard, but in court Richard surprisingly presents proof that his wife had depressions and maybe killed herself - or are these proofs just fake? -- Depicts an authentic case.

Date of release
1995-01-16
TMDB
6.5 / 10 (2)
Runtime
1h 28m
Genres
Crime, Drama, Thriller, TV Movie
Director
Sondra Locke

Casting

Interesting facts

Death in Small Doses is a 1995 American true crime television film directed by Sondra Locke and written by Scott Swanton. It was produced by Robert Greenwald Productions and stars Richard Thomas, Tess Harper, Glynnis O'Connor and Shawn Elliot. The film is a dramatization of the 1991 death of wealthy Dallas resident Nancy Lyon by arsenic poisoning, a crime for which her husband Richard Lyon (Thomas) was the police's main suspect.

Production

Death in Small Doses is a dramatization of the 1991 death of wealthy Dallas native Nancy Lyon by arsenic poisoning, a crime for which her husband Richard Lyon was the police's prime suspect. The film was directed by Sondra Locke and written by Scott Swanton. It was produced by Robert Greenwald Productions for ABC, with Robert Greenwald and Carla Singer serving as the executive producers.

Although Locke had already directed two theatrical films, Death in Small Doses was the actress-turned-director's television directorial debut. According to Locke, she had been struggling to get her next theatrical project off the ground when her agent suggested she try her hand at directing a television film instead.

I thought this will be interesting to tell a story as a director when I'm not quite sure as a director myself truly what he did or did not do. To the audience, then, it's like a game of, "Did he or didn't he?"

Locke said she underestimated how difficult directing for television would be, with the tight schedule keeping her on her toes and leaving little room for error. The true crime aspect posed its own challenges for the filmmaker, as adhering to the real-life case meant having to limit the film's dramatic scope.

Locke scheduled three days of rehearsals for the cast which enabled them to have extensive discussions about the source material. In the film, Richard and Nancy Lyon are played by Richard Thomas and Glynnis O'Connor respectively. Locke was keen to have Thomas portray the accused husband, feeling that the actor's "quality of innocence or directness" would play well into the ambiguity surrounding the character's guilt.

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