Doctor Foster
BBC ONE, 9.00PM
The great joy of Mike Bartlett’s addictive melodrama lies in trying to guess what act of potentially life-destroying insanity his characters will commit next. After two weeks in which the tension has ratcheted up a little more with each hour, we reach the midway point and with it the chance for Gemma (Suranne Jones) and Simon (Bertie Carvel) to take stock of the damage their escalating feud is causing, particularly to their increasingly troubled son Tom. Will either of his parents come to their senses and notice how much he’s struggling to cope with their behaviour or are they too locked into their own folie à deux to change track?
Amid all the brittle one-liners, dastardly deeds and not-so-smart use of smart phones, Bartlett makes some pertinent points about the way in which children are affected by parental misdeeds and it’s hard not to feel for Tom (sensitively played by Tom Taylor), too often a pawn in his parents’ twisted games. Thank goodness then for Victoria Hamilton’s no-nonsense Anna, who remains the show’s voice of mildly exasperated reason, this week popping round with wine glass in hand to give Gemma a stern talking to. Sarah Hughes