- Radio Times
- Review by:
- Alison Graham
To protect her young son Mason, tough little Lou (Natalie Gavin) is determined that she and her incarcerated husband keep up the fiction that his dad is not inside, but working on an important building project. But Mason (Oliver Hannam) is suspicious, and soon
the not terribly convincing façade crumbles. Worse is to come for the family as Lou’s drug dealing puts her child in serious danger.
Life isn’t getting any easier for the other prisoners’ wives, either. Francesca (Polly Walker) is furious at being tricked into attending a marriage guidance session with her thug of a husband, Paul, while Gemma (Emma Rigby) has burnt all of her bridges.
It’s a gritty episode of this superior melodrama and, though you’ll probably wince at some lumbering clichés, it’s (again) so well done that you’ll forget all of that as you get caught up in the characters.
About this programme
4/6. Lou panics when she returns home from a night-time drug deal to find Mason missing. She soon spots him, sleepwalking, but the fright makes her vow to become more responsible and leave behind her life of crime - which proves easier said than done. Gemma helps the police build the case against her husband, going to extraordinary lengths to protect her identity, while Francesca reluctantly attends a prison-run marriage guidance course with Paul, who hopes they still have a future together. Natalie Gavin, Emma Rigby, Polly Walker and Iain Glen star.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Lou
- Natalie Gavin
- Harriet
- Pippa Haywood
- Gemma
- Emma Rigby
- Francesca
- Polly Walker
- Mason
- Oliver Hannam
- Man with Mason
- Adam Beresford
- Tapper
- Sean Cernow
- Kaneez
- Dystin Johnson
- Debbie
- Juliet Ellis
- Senior security officer
- Chris Brailsford
- Security officer
- Penny Capper
- Sean
- Reuben Johnson
- Steve
- Jonas Armstrong
- DS David Hunter
- Andrew Tiernan
- Andy
- Anthony Flanagan
- Gavin
- Adam Gillen
- Visits hall guard
- Tom Tunstall
- Paul
- Iain Glen
- Natalie
- Zita Sattar
- Miss Simms
- Charlotte Donnelly
- Robert
- Mike Noble
- Lauren
- Phoebe Dynevor
- Matt
- Harry McEntire
- Frank
- David Bradley
- Jenny Hughes
- Laura Lindsay
- Detective Mitchell
- David Keeling
Crew
- Director
- Harry Bradbeer
- Producer
- Anna Ferguson
- Writer
- Chloe Moss
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