Some viewers struggled with the time jumps in Jenna Coleman's new BBC drama The Cry
"Jenna has time travelled more than she ever did in Doctor Who"

Aiming to fill the Bodyguard-shaped hole in viewers’ lives, new BBC1 drama The Cry – which sees Victoria’s Jenna Coleman as a mother searching for her missing son – left BBC1 audiences feeling a little baffled after its first episode.
And for one reason in particular: the show’s continuous time-hopping. Taking direction from the story’s original book of the same name penned by Helen Fitzgerald, the first instalment jumped between past, present and future.
The interwoven chronology meant in the same episode viewers saw Coleman’s character Joanna begin an extramarital affair with partner Alistair (Ewen Leslie), struggle with postpartum depression and grapple with the disappearance of her son Noah – but not in the correct order.
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For many, The Cry’s flashbacks were perplexing…
However, others found the drama easy to follow...
And some were solely focused on Coleman’s “gripping” performance as a mother in crisis...
...While others were occupied hating Coleman’s unhelpful partner Alistair – especially when he popped in earplugs and put on his eyeshades as Joanna tried to comfort their crying child on the couple's 30-hour flight to Australia.
In fact, many were seriously stressed out by the plane scene, particularly when a stewardess and fellow passengers demanded Joanna shut “it” up.
Whether you found the series opener too stressful or not, viewers can expect another three episodes of The Cry where hopefully we’ll find out what actually happened to Noah and Joanna. Or just be left seriously confused.
This article was originally published on 1 October 2018