The Children ITV

We know how the story end's but how did we get here?

Over the past two weeks I have been mesmerized by ITV drama, The Children starring Kevin Whately, Geraldine Somerville and Lesley Sharp. This thriller depicts several relationships between step families and in our modern lives, how the children can through emotional turmoil. From the off the premise was surrounding the death of an eight year old girl, Emily, what happened to her on that day and how killed her? Like several popular shows recently, The Children, has used time to it's advantage by travelling back to the past and to the lead up of these events to piece together the jigsaw of who killed her.

Lucy Gannon (Servants, Soldier, Soldier, Peak Practice, and Bramwell) says: “Every person who loves this little girl, lives with her, cares for her, could have killed her. I hope we’ll all have our own theory about who did it, and that the theories will be different.

“This is a challenging and provocative drama about what can happen when children become displaced from family life by the divorce of their parents.”

At first, each character seems to be able to cope with the breakdown of one relationship and the establishment of another but as the story continues we see that Jack and Emily fall foul to their self indulgent parents. This is in no way a jibe at divorcees or step families but instead an insider view at the psychological damage that can go on and how the children within these families may find themselves caught in the middle.
Although Jack and Emily have been thrown together due to their parents relationship, we also discover what happened to their other halves. Whether it be Emily's father who has a new wife and baby or Jack's mother who has realised she wants a life of free and fancy- none of them follow or start to comprehend the damage their children are receiving.
Over this three part drama, we start to piece together what happened in these relationships and how the ultimate death of a little girl can be resolved. Full of amazing acting, brilliant scripts and interesting turns, this drama is one of the best ITV has turned out in years.
Highly recommened and look out of the final resolution tomorrow night (15-9, 9pm)

Gossip Girl 2x01: Summer Kind of Wonderful

Last Monday, the most talked about show of last fall returned. Over the past year Gossip Girl has become a global phenomenon, being shown in over 30 countries, the show has gone from strength to strength. New York Magazine called it the 'best show ever' and season two returns with all the promise for more sex, lies and scandal from Manhattan's elite.
Picking up at the end of the summer where season one left off we join Serena, Nate and Chuck in the Hamptons where steamy doesn't even come close. Whether it's making out in a car or topless sunbathing on the beach, the first five minutes of episode one starts where the season means to go on. But when Blair arrives in town we realise hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and when you promise to meet Blair, you shouldn't break that promise... Chuck. She arrives with a new beau in tow, James, a sure fire way to make Chuck jealous.
While back in Brooklyn, Dan 'lonely boy' Humphrey, is no longer lonely and while trying to juggle a story that he has promised to write about a failed relationship, an internship with one of his idols and trying to forget about Serena, he forgets what makes Dan, the good boy.
I loved this episode, partly because I so wanted Gossip Girl to return and partly because it was a good episode but there was one fatal flaw. Although the Hamptons marks one of the most luxurious parts in the country, Gossip Girl just could not rely on the setting. It was missing New York, the show's main character. We all look forward to seeing the sights, as they sit on the steps of the Met or Brooklyn Bridge but take this away and unfortunately it feels like a good friend is missing. Apart from that the story was lighthearted and bitchy, the ideal mix for this show and a surprising turn from Serena's grandmother! My highlight was any scene between Blair and Chuck, they are such good actors and the emotion between them is shown so well on screen. "Three words, eight letters," that's all it took for Chuck to get his girl but not yet!
Finally the old Jenny was back, she fell off the social ladder at the end of season one and after reconcilling with Erik, it seems things may start to go right for Jenny. Hopes for the season, some Erik storylines, Vanessa's return, Blair & Chuck showdown and some more drama for the the Derena relationship!
As Kirsten Bell who voices Gossip Girl says, 'You ain't seen nothing yet!'