LIGHT AT END OF TUNNEL IS A REAL THRILLER
WHILE this is undoubtedly a great modern-day thriller, it also takes a stark look at the effects of loneliness and isolation.
Rachel Watson is a drunk whose life appears to be spiralling out of control but the one thing which gives her a glimmer of hope is the love between a couple she sees from a train.
But when the woman goes missing, she feels an overwhelming need to get involved in finding her after awakening from a drunken slumber sporting a bashed head and bloody hands and a lot of blank spots in her recollections.
Secrets and lies begin to spill out thanks to more than a degree of subterfuge from Rachel. Once the body is found, it doesn’t take much brain power to figure out who is responsible, despite a few woman, and Adam Jackson-Smith as Rachel’s ex-husband both gave commanding performances and John Dougall as DI Gaskill paradoxically provided some light relief with well-delivered laugh-outloud lines.
But no matter how good they were, the success of the show rested on the shoulders of the girl on the train herself. And Samantha Womack was exceptional.
She played alcoholic Rachel with a measured style, avoiding overdoing the drunk scenes and instead capturing the desolation and loneliness with an intelligence and emotion which rang true to character. Womack took wretched to a new level and combined it with jealousy, passion and desperation.
Superb. Grab a ticket. This is one train ride you don’t want to miss. Run ends tomorrow.