Accused: Series 2 Episode 1 - Tracie's Story

Jimmy McGovern's Accused returned for a second series last week and I was really looking forward to it after the success of the first series.

And I wasn't disappointed as I thought the opening episode, entitled Tracie's Story, was brilliantly written and acted. The story, centring around a love affair between a cross dresser, Simon Gaskell aka Tracie Tremarco, and a married man, Tony Baines, which ends in a tragic conclusion.

The format of the series remains the same. Starting with the central character, in this instance Simon/Tracie, in the dock for a yet unknown crime. Throughout the story we learn how and why, with little inserts of the court scenes and then finishing on the verdict of jury. I think that this works quite well because it made me feel like I was one of the jury members being presented with the evidence and being drawn into the journey of the character.

I thought the cast were great, especially the performances of Sean Bean as Simon/Tracie and Stephen Graham as Tony. I thought it brought a more sensitive light to Bean's perception as an actor and I had a feeling afterwards that it felt real and human. But in general I think that is the success of the McGovern's work, where the character's are the centre point. They have feelings, faults and make mistakes. His work and this story especially is good at confronting attitudes towards issues and lifestyles such as cross dressing. And I thought this well used near the end when the judge allowed for Simon to take the stand as Tracie and give a very powerful and inspiration monologue. I think it is a good source of education for an audience and I liked the use of the poetry weaved throughout the episode.

I look forward to the rest of the series and to see what characters will emerge.

Accused, Episode 2 can be seen on Tuesday at 9pm on BBC One