Penance, Channel 5 review - lust, disgust and mistrust in Kate O'Riordan's thrilller | reviews, news & interviews
Penance, Channel 5 review - lust, disgust and mistrust in Kate O'Riordan's thrilller
Penance, Channel 5 review - lust, disgust and mistrust in Kate O'Riordan's thrilller
Slow-burning mystery needs more screen time to develop
Adapted by Kate O’Riordan from her own novel, Penance is a taut little thriller spread over three consecutive nights.
There’s a deluxe, feature-film-like quality about the production, and its pedigree cast doesn’t hurt. Julie Graham plays Rosalie Douglas, a 50-ish former care-worker who now runs three of her own care homes. Her husband Luke is played by Neil Morrissey, who seems to have cornered the market on weak, feckless husbands and carries on the tradition here. Rosalie’s confidante is Father Tom, imbued with suitably priestly unction by Art Malik.
Probably because the story has been compressed into a meagre three episodes, there isn’t quite enough screen time to establish the idea of the Douglases as a happy family. We get a glimpse of Rosalie preparing a Christmas meal to welcome home her backpacking son Rob when the mood is shattered by the police arriving on the doorstep.They reveal that Rob has been drowned in a swimming accident in Thailand.
Suddenly they’re an unhappy family. Daughter Maddie goes off the rails and falls in with a gang of druggie, vodka-swilling lowlifes. Luke has an affair with someone called Wendy. Rosalie, who doesn’t believe that her champion-swimmer son could have simply drowned, mumbles helplessly that she’s “lost herself”. Perhaps Father Tom’s therapy group could help? Why yes. Here, Maddie and Rosalie meet Jed (Nico Mirallegro), a sad orphaned boy now feeling alone in the world after the death of his poor old nan. Before long, he’s Maddie’s boyfriend.
But he’s playing a longer game. Creepily, he seems to have sexual designs on Rosalie, appearing shirtless in her kitchen, giving her longing looks and standing much too close to her. To her horror, Rosalie finds herself unable to resist him, and even starts having steamy erotic dreams. Whisking together themes of trust, betrayal and the disillusionments of middle age, Penance becomes a slippery slope towards purgatory as a bigger, uglier picture steadily unravels. It’s a shame the slow-burn story wasn’t given more screen time in which to develop.
rating
Explore topics
Share this article
The future of Arts Journalism
You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d
And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
Add comment