Unspeakable bravely tackled the fear of domestic sexual abuse – but was it all a bit pointless in the end?
Channel 4’s one-off drama effectively showed how one text message can turn your whole world upside down but, given the subject matter, the ending fell a bit flat
“Er, what was the point in all of that?” is the question that springs to mind at the end of Channel 4’s one-off domestic abuse drama, Unspeakable.
Indira Varma plays Jo, a mother who receives an anonymous tip-off that her 11-year-old daughter is being abused by her new live-in boyfriend, Danny. “Your boyfriend and Katie. Something’s going on. It’s not right,” reads the text.
Before the unwelcome news arrives one Friday morning, Jo and Danny (Luke Treadaway) are completely loved-up without a care in the world. But after the suspicion creeps its way into Jo’s mind, everything about Danny takes on a new meaning.
Jo is concerned about Katie because she’s acting quiet, so Danny tries to help, saying, “If you’re worried about Katie, I could speak to her, spend some time with her. She might open up while you’re away.” While on any other day this offer would seem normal – helpful, even – both Jo and the viewer can’t help but think it sounds sinister.
Jo's torment continues all weekend while she puts off confronting Danny: she confides in a friend and an NSPCC counsellor, she tries to trace the number of the anonymous texter, she attempts to reach out to Katie… until the truth finally outs.
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In the end, we find out that it was Jo’s bitter ex-husband, Des (Neil Maskell), who sent the texts – and the accusation was completely and utterly groundless. He just made it up. Why? Because he was jealous that she had moved on and he hadn’t.
It was a bizarre conclusion that left you wondering what was the point of it all. Why raise an issue as ugly and thorny as child sex abuse – a subject matter that the drama dealt with well – only to back away from it altogether at the close? That's not to say this is something we want to see more of on TV, but to take on a topic so tricky only to back away felt like a strange decision.
The drama is not without its merits. Unspeakable is beautifully shot and Varma is totally believable in her role as a mother whose mind is poisoned by a lie. It lures in the viewer – after we see the text, it is almost impossible not to inherit Jo's paranoia and see everything Danny says or does as suspicious.
Over 60-minutes, we get a compelling account of how one single text message can unravel your life and act as a catalyst for destruction – but whether the dark and complex issue of domestic child abuse was the right means by which to make this point, I am not convinced.
