✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
TV

The Victim, BBC review ★★★★★

08 Apr 19 – 11 Apr 19, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM

From Killing Eve writer Rob Williams comes The Victim, the BBC's latest investigative drama that asks difficult questions about a child murder. Starring Kelly Macdonald and John Hannah

By Euan Franklin on 8/4/2019

3 CW readers are interested
Kelly MacDonald in The Victim, BBC
Kelly MacDonald in The Victim, BBC
The Victim, BBC review 5 The Victim, BBC review Euan Franklin
Bringing a young killer to justice, depending on the case, can be deeply contentious. They’re often given reduced sentences and their names are protected from the press, which isn't enough for many people.


But should they have the chance to start over? Do they deserve a life sentence? Or a death sentence? It’s easy to sympathise with the parents of the murdered, but is ‘an eye for an eye’ really justice?


In The Victim, a dark new drama from Killing Eve writer Rob Williams, these morbid questions and difficult realities swirl into a fierce courtroom mystery.



Craig Myers (James Harkness) is a bus driver, who's suddenly accused of being a child killer


A surreal fate befalls Craig Myers (James Harkness), a socially awkward bus driver. He's suddenly attacked in his home and wakes up in hospital to some distressing news: everyone thinks he’s a child killer. The bereaved mother, Anna Dean (Kelly Macdonald), whose son was murdered 15 years earlier by teenager ‘Eddie J Turner’, is suspected of creating an online fury against Myers.


The Victim twists the usual expectations of a whodunnit, since the killer has already been found, accused and sentenced. Anna has never been able to accept Turner's release, thinking he's innately ‘evil’. She faces trial for incitement to murder, stemming from her belief that Craig Myers is actually Turner. But the truth is complicated, with plenty to suspect on both sides.


Williams creates a vicious divide between Anna and Craig, and plays with the viewer’s personal sense of conscience – conjuring ethically uncomfortable questions at every turn. Is there such thing as innate evil? Should the names of teenage killers be released to the press? Can a bereaved mother’s certainty be trusted as gospel?



DI Steven Grover (John Hannah) tries to prove Craig's innocence


Moving between the two is DI Steven Grover (John Hannah), who tries to prove Craig’s innocence and Anna’s guilt. Like a classic hard-boiled detective, he’s grey and grumpy and rebellious (‘public opinion doesn’t exist – it was invented by the media!’) – but he’s not very trustworthy, either, especially around women.


The idea of complete faith in a certain character is mostly absent here. All have their personal motivations for seeing either Anna or Craig destroyed, and many scenes clang these conflicting suspicions together like emotional bells.


Kelly Macdonald and James Harkness create such vulnerable performances that it’s easy to be convinced by both their characters at the same time. Macdonald in particular, in one of her few leading roles, permits a harrowing fragility that’s sometimes gruelling to watch.



Kelly Macdonald, playing Anna Dean, permits a harrowing fragility that's sometimes difficult to watch

There’s a kind of poetry to how the series unfolds over four episodes, especially in its furiously harrowing conclusion. This can be over-the-top, at times, but never loses its poignance or stress. Anger and confusion sweat through almost every scene, during calm dialogues and courtroom shouting matches, as if Rob Williams and director Niall MacCormack want to shake viewers until they scream.


The Victim may divide audiences into Team Anna and Team Craig, but not without sympathy on both sides. Williams eventually resolves the mystery, but the questions around what Eddie J Turner deserves and the morality behind Anna’s actions are still left hanging. We all have specific opinions, but there are no real answers.


The Victim will air every night at 9pm on BBC One until Thursday




What The Victim, BBC review
When 08 Apr 19 – 11 Apr 19, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Price £n/a
Website



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 24th - 26th June
Things to do in London this weekend: 24th - 26th June
Jacquemus X Nike Collaboration
Beige, sexy and sporty: Jacquemus X Nike collaboration drops
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London (Photograph: Peter Lewicki)
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London, 2022

Editor's Picks

Jodie Comer as Villanelle in Killing Eve
Killing Eve season 2, BBC review
Our Planet, Netflix review
Our Planet, Netflix review
The Case Against Adnan Syed, Sky Atlantic
The Case Against Adnan Syed, Sky Atlantic review
Millie Bobby Brown in Stranger Things 4, Netflix (Photo: Netflix)
What to watch on TV this week
Needs must: Fleabag crosses enemy lines
Fleabag series 2, BBC review, episode 5
Esmé Creed-Miles in Hanna, Amazon Prime
Hanna, Amazon Prime review
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
3

The Victim

BBC

Detective

Drama

TV

Kelly MacDonald

You might like

  • Martin Compston and Vicky McClure in Line of Duty series 5, BBC

    Line of Duty episode 2 review ★★★★★

  • photo c/o BBC

    BBC Young Dancer 2019

  • Movern Christie in The Bay, ITV

    Why you should be watching The Bay

  • Suranne Jones as Anne Lister in Gentleman Jack, BBC

    Gentleman Jack, BBC One review ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×