Mystery of missing Kiri
KIRI C4, 9pm
SARAH Lancashire could be eating her dinner or painting a wall for an hour, and we would still be absolutely transfixed.
The actress, who has appeared in everything from Corrie to Last Tango in Halifax and Happy Valley, is the mark of great drama and completely mesmerising to watch.
In this harrowing tale, she plays Miriam, a social worker from Bristol.
We see her pour booze into her morning coffee. She’s a bit dishevelled, has a sickly dog which she is devoted to, and there are pencil height marks on the wall but no children in the house any more.
Of course there is a back-story to be discovered.
She’s good at her job – no-nonsense, experienced and thoroughly dedicated to the people in her care.
We learn all of these things about her in the first few minutes.
In this opening part, Miriam arranges for a young black girl, Kiri (Felicia Mukasa) to have an unsupervised visit with her birth grandfather Tobi (Lucian Msamati) and his second wife, before her white foster family officially adopts her.
But during the visit, Kiri goes missing, and as the search for her intensifies, Miriam is very publicly blamed by the police, the press, and even her colleagues for putting the girl at risk.
Has Kiri run away, or is there something more sinister at hand?
Lancashire alone could hold your attention with every emotion etched on her face, but this is also a powerful and gripping story about difficult subject matter.