Rodya Raskolnikov (John Simm) is a poverty-stricken student living among the fetid alleyways and crumbling tenements of St Petersburg. Intense and highly intelligent, Raskolnikov believes he is among a class of men destined for greatness and as such is permitted to breach 'normal' moral values.
He decides to test his courage and integrity by killing a pawnbroker, a mean old woman whom he is sure nobody will miss. The murder, however, only serves to draw Raskolnikov into a nightmare world in which he is dogged by guilt, paranoia and alienation.
Faced with the wily investigator Porfiry, who sets up a complex series of traps, encounters and onversations, can Raskolnikov escape his own conscience or the seemingly inevitable punishment?
