An almost unbearable gut punch of a drama
The Accident
Episode 1, Channel 4
H★★★★★
ave balloons and bunting ever looked more ominous than during the opening sequence of The Accident (Channel 4)? Set in the fictional community of Glyngolau, a “left behind” South Wales town in desperate need of regeneration, this gut punch of a drama began with the community coming together for a St David’s Day fun run.
There were inflatable daffodils, ice cream vans, bouncy castles – and an almost unbearable sense of mounting dread. From the show’s title – and the advance publicity – we knew something terrible was about to happen. At the 13-minute mark, it came.
An explosion at a much soughtafter construction project caused the shiny new factory to collapse, claiming the lives of eight teenagers who had broken into the building site to make mischief. Amid the search for bodies and answers, grief turned to anger. Difficult truths will be unearthed as the blame game begins.
There were strong echoes of the Aberfan tragedy which took place 53 years ago this week, as well as the Grenfell Tower fire. It was also reminiscent of one of this year’s standout dramas, Sky Atlantic’s Chernobyl, especially when ash fell like snow over the aghast onlookers.
Just when things could not get much more painful, a further twist introduced a domestic violence storyline between firebrand mother Polly (Sarah Lancashire) and her husband, local councillor Iwan (Mark Lewis Jones). These shockingly visceral scenes were challenging to watch, with the couple grappling, grunting and weeping like two wounded animals.
This was bold, knotty drama, powered by a heart-wrenching performance from Lancashire. After finding fame on the Coronation Street cobbles as endearingly guileless barmaid Raquel, she has carved out a career as one of our most empathetic and consistently compelling television actresses. In Sally Wainwright’s dramas Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax, she was an embodiment of raw emotion.
Lancashire was strongly supported by Borgen’s Sidse Babett
Knudsen as the executive behind the development, Joanna Scanlan as bereaved mother Angela and Genevieve Barr as shell-shocked Debbie. The four-parter was created by Bafta-winning Jack Thorne, one of our most gifted and prolific screenwriters, whose credits include This Is England, The Virtues and next week’s BBC adaptation of His Dark Materials (not to mention his stage work, which includes theatrical phenomenon Harry Potter and the Cursed Child). The Accident forms the final part of Thorne’s “blame trilogy”, after 2016’s Operation Yewtree-inspired National Treasure and last year’s adoption mystery Kiri – which treated us to another Sarah Lancashire acting masterclass.
Thorne is a fearless writer who tends to tackle big topics by focusing on personal details. In National Treasure, he took the historic sex crimes of a much-loved television comedian (played by Robbie Coltrane) and filtered it through the lens of his relationships with his wife and daughter (Julie Walters and Andrea Riseborough). So it proved here, from that optimistic bunting to the way Polly tenderly moistened the lips of her rebellious daughter Leona (promising discovery Jade Croot) as she lay in intensive care.
The Accident might ask thorny questions about corporate manslaughter and restorative justice but at heart this remained a deeply human story.