Kicking off proceedings with the discovery of a dead eight-year-old girl could be seen as a cheap trick to keep us watching, but The Children is far from your average whodunit. With a tag line ‘When adults play, the children suffer’, the painful truth of the statement becomes evident as we follow the devastating emotional and physical damage done to two children, Emily and Jack – played brilliantly by Sinead Michael (pictured) and Freddie Boath – as their parents move on from their messy divorces and into each others’ beds.
Cameron (Kevin Whately) has left his wife Anne (Lesley Sharp) with a drink problem and a troublesome 14-year-old son by way of goodbye, favouring instead the lustful delights of the altogether more cultured Sue (Geraldine Somerville). Still smarting from the betrayal of her own husband, who has run off with ‘Pneumatic Tits’ and proceeded to bring another unsuspecting child into the world, Sue does her best to ‘get to know’ Cameron’s son, Jack. It’s no easy task, and a penchant for internet porn and vodka-fuelled early-morning bike rides soon see Jack moving back in with his dad. But as Sue’s spoilt daughter Emily fails to accept her new half-brother, a dark turn of events sees Adam’s life – and those of the three families involved – spiral out of control.
The action is punctuated by flash-forwards to Emily’s murder in the garden, and the resulting fractured feel is an effective metaphor for the children’s plight as victims of the pass-the-parcel politics of parents blind to their responsibilities. If all that sounds a little bleak, it is – but surprisingly compelling nonetheless.
Stars: Kevin Whately, Lesley Sharp, Geraldine Somerville, Ian Puleston-Davies
Certification: UK 15; £19.99
Extras: None. Read review on Screenjabber.com
