ianlouisiana Review of The Moorside

The Moorside (2017)

Tried hard to put a positive spin on a bad situation

[5/10 · 8 February 2017]

This sad episode is perhaps too recent to view objectively. The deeply flawed Karen Matthews was nobody's idea of a paragon of the maternal virtues but surely she could not have been as stupid as this production has portrayed her.Nor can her friends have been so sheep - like,just ready for someone - anyone - to tell them what to do. Obligingly along comes Miss S.Smith as a gobby advocate for the Moorside who sees the opportunity for what she sees as being helpful as well as seizing her 15 minutes at the same time as winding up the Old Bill and bullying her neighbours into doing her wishes without really thinking about the possibility that she might be harming the child's chance of being found alive. Puffy eyed and heavy of face,Miss Smith is a stranger to restraint as the single mother brow - beating and threatening her way to a TV spot as the hunt for the child grows wider. Only her friend Natalie(excellent Miss S.Brooke) is willing to stand up to her. As we all know the outcome of this incident there was no tension,merely a vague anxiety about what Miss Smith might do when she finds out that she(and all the others)has been played for a mug. Best performance by far is by Miss S.Finneran as this Detective who is unfortunate enough to be Family Liaison. The guy who plays Karen Matthews' partner looked so much like Radar O' Reilly that I giggled every time he came on screen.Presumably not the affect he was supposed to create. I understand the intention of "The Moorside" was to present a more positive image for the residents,but I'm afraid that in that it has not succeeded.