A Mother's Son

This was a two-part drama telling the story of a mother faced with suspecting that her son or stepson murdered a local girl after finding a blood stained pair of trainers.

Starring Hermione Norris as the mother, Rosie, who has to tackle the moralistic question of whether to report her son Jamie or stepson Robert to the police. I really like how the drama tells it from a very domestic point of view. For instance, at the start Rosie's family can be seen as typical modern family of remarried parents, stepchildren and the issues that come with them. Its this domestic view that helps me to feel connected to the situation and foresee the later collapse of the family.

Jamie's suspicious behaviour soon makes him the prime suspect and makes the audience feel suspicious and allowed me to emphasis with Rosie's situation. I also thought that the performance by Paul McGann as Jamie's father David and Martin Clunes as Rosie's husband Ben were good, but I thought that Alexander Arnold did a great job as Jamie especially in his final scenes that made me feel sorry for him instead of the usual disgust that an audience member is usually made to feel about a murderer.

I liked how that the drama had some focus on the grieving mother Kay Mullary, played by Annabelle Apsion, and the murder investigation run by DC Sue Upton, played by Nicola Walker. This showed three different perspectives of domesticity.

This was an intriguing drama, that kept wanting to know more.