Family ties
IT’S a calm summer evening in the idyllic suburb of Hollington Drive as two sisters and their families enjoy a barbecue, sipping wine on the patio.
They’re chatting about running and sourdough and business awards and everything seems perfect.
As opening scenes go, this is all terrifying because it absolutely means that something bad is about to happen.
Theresa, played by Anna Maxwell Martin, seems distracted and tells her son Ben that no, he and her sister’s daughter Eva – are not allowed to go to the park.
But Theresa’s partner Fraser (Rhashan Stone) is more relaxed. Go on, let them go to the park for half an hour, it will be fine… what could possibly happen!
Half an hour later, the kids have not returned, so Theresa heads out to look for them, frantic.
When she finds them, they seem downcast, maybe even guilty?
And then there’s a knock at the door as their neighbour says that her 10-year-old son
Alex has gone missing that very day. Did Ben and Eva have something to do with it?
Sisters and social pillars within the community, Theresa and Helen (Rachael Stirling) struggle to hold their lives and their families together in the wake of the tragedy.
Helen, the headmistress of the local school, is forced to confront faults in her own household.
And there’s a traumatic event in Theresa’s past that is finally catching up with her.
A four-part mystery with lots of twists and turns and plenty of curtain twitching.