Jimmy McGovern child abuse drama Unforgivable leaves more questions than answers

Most children who experience contact sexual abuse are harmed by someone they know – a horrifying reality that is interrogated by Jimmy McGovern in his latest work, Unforgivable.

The acclaimed screenwriter, long drawn to stories of ordinary people — from his early Brookside days to the powerful prison drama Time – once again spotlights an everyday sort of family, based in Liverpool, who are living in the shadow of an everyday sort of transgression – an estimated 500,000 children are sexually abused every year – that was inflicted upon them by one of their own.

The perpetrator, Joe (Bobby Schofield), has served just under half of his sentence for grooming and sexually assaulting his 12-year-old nephew Tom (Austin Haynes) when he's released.

He then moves into a halfway house run by former nun Katherine (Anna Maxwell Martin), who has committed her life to doing the work that prisons predominantly haven't: addressing the underlying causes of offending to prevent future harm to others.

But Katherine is also driven by a desire to help Joe change so he might begin to heal himself.

"Could you fix me?" he asks her as tears form in his eyes, one of many questions raised that cannot possibly be answered in a 90-minute drama.

The title, Unforgivable, is one big question.

Will Joe ever be capable of change if he can't learn to discard his self-loathing?

Will Joe's family ever view him as anything other than an anathema?

But it's in that moment, when Joe asks Katherine if he can be cured – because that is how his sexual attraction to boys is presented here, as a malady – that you might feel something for him, a loose form of sympathy, perhaps, as you consider what it might feel like to be someone who has done such a terrible thing, the weight of which he can only escape when sleep finally takes him.

Feeling anything other than horror and disgust for perpetrators of this type of crime is not natural or easy. For many, it will be impossible. But McGovern, who felt "compelled" to write the film after receiving a letter from a woman who works with sex offenders, said that he wants viewers to come away from Unforgivable having "learned things about child abuse".

"Even though we're talking about child abusers, I still think there's a need for compassion," he said. "Caution, yes, punishment, yes, justice, yes. These are enormous crimes, they must be punished, you must go to prison.

"But alongside all that, an element of compassion. To understand a bit more and equally condemn."

It's provocative subject matter, but it's explored without provocation – a style mastered by McGovern, who has always favoured grounded, lived-in writing over sensationalism.

We later learn that Joe was sexually abused when he was a child by Paul (Mark Womack), his football coach and a family friend.

"This is not a film that goes easy on child abusers at all," added McGovern, who doesn't use that piece of information to excuse what Joe has done, or guilt the audience into parting with their sympathy – although it might shift your perception of him.

We also find out that Sammy (Paddy Rowan), who used to play on the same team as Joe, was abused by Paul, but he has not gone on to inflict that on anyone.

Yet, it is one of the variables that McGovern, who has very clearly approached this many-stranded, barbed issue with sincerity, and with a view to moving beyond straight condemnation so as to be of some use, felt necessary to include.

"I go along and talk to people and I think, 'These people will be very interesting,' and I get sucked in," he said to the BBC of the stories he has spent his career telling.

"I always say to people, 'Why write about things that do not matter?'"

And we can all agree that this matters, even though it's not something anyone really wants to talk about, and understandably so. There are very few moments during Unforgivable when you won't feel sad or sick or thoroughly empty.

But the scale and nature of the problem should demand that we are talking about it. And a writer such as McGovern, who is somehow able to take something that is so ugly and cradle it, almost, can help us to move past our quiet despair and actually engage with the subject matter, however painful and confronting.

Here, as in all of McGovern's work, there's a human undercurrent that makes you feel safe, helping to guide us towards what we might normally avert our eyes from, and holding our gaze when we'd rather look away.

And here, as with so much of McGovern's work, is a piece of writing that'll sit with you for quite some time as certain moments race to to the fore, such as when Tom asks his mum if she wants a cup of tea, the only words he's spoken to her, other than yes or no, since his uncle sexually assaulted him.

The brilliance of McGovern's dialogue has always been in the smallest of details.

But you'll also be left with more questions.

How many other boys has Paul abused? And will he ever face justice for what he's done?

How many other Pauls are there?

Unforgivable is, in many ways, an unsatisfying watch, and not because of any shortcomings on McGovern's part, but because it deals in mess and trauma and myriad questions that he simply doesn't have the answers to.

But none of that lessens its power. No, if anything, Unforgivable has the capacity to echo beyond the screen, in ways big and small – a hallmark of McGovern's writing. And that is the mark of truly great storytelling.

Anyone affected by this story can find support via the NSPCC website. You can also call the helpline on 0808 800 5000.

Unforgivable is now available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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