Boyd’s TV land
BBC1, Monday/tuesday, 9pm
It’s difficult to think of a tougher challenge for a TV drama writer than telling the kind of story at the centre of Dark Money. It’s about a young lad called Isaac (Max Fincham), who returns home to London from his dream job of acting in a big Hollywood fantasy blockbuster, only to reveal to his parents (Babou Ceesay and Jill Halfpenny) that he was sexually abused by the film’s producer. Created by Levi David Addai, who previously wrote the beautifully moving BBC film Damilola, Our Loved Boy, this four-parter – spread across Monday and Tuesday this week and next – has obvious echoes of real-life accusations of abuse within the entertainment industry. But this isn’t a simplistic response to any specific case. Instead, Addai’s saga is much broader in scope and has lots of things to say – not just about the nature of the horrendous trauma at its core, but also about
family, race and class – without ever coming across as preachy. He cunningly sets the narrative in a typically complex modern family situation. Isaac’s combative older sister Jess (Olive Gray) also wants to be an actor, and their dad has another son, Tyrone (Tut Nyuot), who lives with his mother Sabrina (Susan Wokoma). The drama does not flinch from exploring the fallout the boy and his family suffer following his trauma – especially when the parents accept a multi-million pound payoff to keep quiet about the scandal – and how the festering secret infects everything they do from that moment on. The level of authenticity is extraordinary throughout, with Rebecca Front brilliant as a publicist tasked with looking after the boy during filming, who is subsequently wracked with guilt. Difficult questions are asked throughout – and don’t expect any easy answers.