How to turn the tragedy of a lost child into an insufferable mess

Anybody tuning in to The Child In Time ( bbC1, Sunday) expecting the sort of frantic, fast-paced storytelling we’ve seen in programmes such as The Missing or broadchurch, will have been sorely disappointed.

There were times during the 90-minute drama when the viewer could have gone off to cook a threecourse dinner and returned to find that nothing much had happened.

based on the acclaimed 1987 novel by Ian McEwan, it told the story of a middle-class professional couple whose four- year- old daughter Kate went missing.

benedict Cumberbatch produced the programme and also starred in it as children’s author Stephen Lewis, who was in charge of Kate when she disappeared on a visit to a supermarket.

Two years on and Stephen’s marriage to piano teacher Julie had broken down. The pair were hollow shells, haunted and guilt-ridden over what happened to Kate and clinging to the belief that she was alive and would find her way back.

Those familiar with the book will know that the narrative focuses very little on the missing child and instead examines the complex issue of childhood and what it really means, as well as examining the reality of time itself.

For example, while on his way to visit Julie ( Kelly Macdonald), Stephen looked into the window of a pub and saw his parents as a young, courting couple.

His mother later revealed it was the pub where she first told his father of her unplanned pregnancy. She believed the vision was sent to Stephen as proof of time having no meaning when it comes to pain and suffering.

Meanwhile, Stephen’s publisher Charles appeared to be suffering some kind of breakdown. once a respected government minister, he had reverted to childhood and, like some overgrown boy scout, spent his days climbing trees and building forts and dens. Had he gone mad or was he simply reliving the happiest time of his life?

Apart from once scene in a school, the whole drama was curiously lacking in emotion. Worse still, the dialogue was insufferable. Every character delivered their lines in short, sharp staccato sentences.

nobody spoke more than six words at a time and the whole thing felt like it had been written for the stage or radio rather than a prime time TV weekend slot.

despite the splendid cast, The Child In Time felt smug, affected and monotonous. The complicated storyline of the book quite simply didn’t work when condensed into a TV show.

Far more intense was Victoria (ITV, Sunday) not least because, in the fifth episode of the second series, the producers decided to give Prince Albert his own Poldark/Mr darcy moment when he stripped off to go skinny dipping beneath a forest waterfall.

Last night’s programme focused on Victoria’s trip to France to try to persuade King Louis Philippe to rethink his plan to marry his son off to the Queen of Spain. The women at the French court were all portrayed as meanies who mocked the homely Victoria for her unsophisticated style. As for the men, they were a bunch of oily lotharios who couldn’t be trusted as far as you could throw a crusty baguette.

As the duchess of buccleuch, Victoria’s Mistress of the Robes, dame diana Rigg has proved an excellent addition to the cast. The battleaxe aristocrat with a nice line in withering put downs may have become something of a cliche in costume dramas, but hers is an entertaining one.

nobody watches Victoria for its razor sharp historical accuracy, but as a slice of Sunday-night escapism it’s pretty unbeatable. CHRISTOPHER STEVENS is away.