ITV drama Innocent returns with a new four-part story
ITV, MONDAY 17 - THURSDAY 20 MAY, 9PM
The first series of Innocent, co-created by Unforgotten writer Chris Lang and crime novelist Matthew Arlidge, aired on ITV in 2018, and told the gripping story of a husband (Lee Ingleby) who’d served a prison sentence for killing his wife, but was released on a technicality and then tried to prove he was wrongfully convicted. Now here’s a totally new four-part story, with new characters and setting, thematically connected to the first series and also written by Lang and Arlidge. And if anything, this new serial is even more riveting.
NEW STORY
The connection between series one and this new second run is that both revolve round characters convicted of crimes they say they didn’t commit. In the case of Katherine Kelly’s Sally Wright, we first meet her in court at her appeal to have her sentence for the murder of 16-year-old Matty Taylor overturned. When the jury finds her not guilty, she’s then free to return to her Cumbrian home town and try to put her life back together. But it’s not going to be easy, because she’s lost everything: her ex-husband Sam (Jamie Bamber) is about to marry one of her old friends, Karen (Priyanga Burford), and the school where she was head of English doesn’t want her back. Despite her acquittal, everyone still seems to assume Sally is guilty not only of killing Matty, but also of having an illicit relationship with him.
BIG THEMES
If you watched the superb Unforgotten, it’ll be no surprise that a series co-written by Chris Lang is instantly enthralling, while also exploring fascinating, thought-provoking themes. The way Sally is treated as a pariah by her local community is powerfully portrayed, and Katherine Kelly does a superb job of showing us her determination to rebuild her life and not take any shit from anyone. Shaun Dooley, recently seen in Russell T Davies’ It’s A Sin, is also excellent as detective Braithwaite, a decent man with his own issues, whose job it is to uncover the truth. Playing out over four consecutive nights, this is a captivating story from start to finish. HHHH