This bleak drama opens with a woman being shot as she tends her garden; we then go back to see what led ex-squaddie Stephan Morton to go on a killing spree. He learn how nobody took him seriously and mocked his claims to have served in the SAS; this escalates and he is brutally attacked by a serving soldier and a former member of the regiment. The next day he shoots the mother he has been caring for before setting off and shooting at anybody he can get in his sights. Later episodes show us the impact of what he did on the bereaved, on the community as a whole and on a journalist who has returned to Southcliffe to report on the events but is still haunted by his miserably childhood there.
If you like your drama bleak then this is for you; everything about the location from the foggy marshes to the plaintive calls of the marsh birds serves to keep things suitably downbeat. Sean Harris, who seems the go-to guy if you want a psychopath, goes a fine job as Morton and the excellent Shirley Henderson is great as bereaved mother Claire. Things start well but unfortunately turn overly melodramatic when TV reporter David Whitehead has a meltdown on air then goes to the pub and tells the locals they had it coming! There is also no explanation of how Morton is in possession of an AK-47 as such weapons were banned after the frequently referenced Hungerford shootings in the '80s. Despite these flaws it is still worth watching if you like emotional dramas; and at only four episodes you won't waste too much to if you don't like it.
If you like your drama bleak then this is for you; everything about the location from the foggy marshes to the plaintive calls of the marsh birds serves to keep things suitably downbeat. Sean Harris, who seems the go-to guy if you want a psychopath, goes a fine job as Morton and the excellent Shirley Henderson is great as bereaved mother Claire. Things start well but unfortunately turn overly melodramatic when TV reporter David Whitehead has a meltdown on air then goes to the pub and tells the locals they had it coming! There is also no explanation of how Morton is in possession of an AK-47 as such weapons were banned after the frequently referenced Hungerford shootings in the '80s. Despite these flaws it is still worth watching if you like emotional dramas; and at only four episodes you won't waste too much to if you don't like it.