The Children (TV series)

*The Children*
The Children
Genre	Crime drama; Thriller
Written by	Lucy Gannon;
Directed by	David Evans;
Starring	Kevin Whately; Geraldine Somerville; Ian Puleston-Davies; Lesley Sharp; Kate Ashfield;
Country of origin	United Kingdom;
Original language	English;
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	3 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Hilary Bevan Jones;
Producer	Tim Whitby;
Production location	United Kingdom;
Running time	60 minutes
Production company	Tightrope Pictures;
Original release
Network	ITV;
Release	1 September –; 15 September 2008

The Children is a three-part thriller first shown on ITV on 1 September 2008. Starring Kevin Whately and Geraldine Somerville, and written by Lucy Gannon, the story focuses on the murder of an eight-year-old girl, who is found on the patio of her home, and the subsequent investigation to discover which one of the adults who cared for her could have killed her. The series was released on DVD on 26 December 2008.^[1]

Plot

The series centres on the dysfunctional lives of Cameron, Sue, Sue's daughter, Emily, Sue's ex-husband and DJ Paul, his new girlfriend Natasha, Cameron's ex-wife Anne and their son Jack. The main plot follows Cameron's family life at home, dealing with life living as a step family. The plot is told in a backwards flashback mode. Arguments and tensions rise throughout the story, and eventually, following her strange and naughty behaviour, little Emily is killed. Any one of the adults could have been responsible – and were all placed at the scene.

As the plot reaches its climax, Cameron is shown hitting Emily and accidentally smashing her through a glass patio door, however there is a twist to the tale as all the suspects are then seen killing her one by one – all except one of them. Natasha, the only character not seen killing Emily, is seen crying and sobbing whilst shouting "I'm sorry". This scene was particularly disliked by some critics,^[who?] because viewers were not shown how or indeed why, or if, Natasha killed her. That, however, said the writer, was the crux of the drama, that any one of them could have, and that her position within her family had become so marginalized that she was, at times, perceived as a nuisance or problem by all of them.^{[citation needed]}

Cast

Kevin Whately as Cameron Miller
Geraldine Somerville as Sue Miller
Ian Puleston-Davies as Paul Sutton
Lesley Sharp as Anne Miller
Kate Ashfield as Natasha Sutton
Freddie Boath as Jack Miller
Michael Begley as D.S. Bliss
David Maybrick as D.C.I. Goodier
Leanne Lakey as D.C. Morton
Andrew Brooke as P.C. Warrior
Pascale Burgess as P.C. Cardigan
Karen Bryson as P.C. Yearsley
Simon Trinder as P.C. Rook
Sinead Michael as Emily

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	British air date	UK viewers (million)^[2]
1	"Episode 1"	David Evans	Lucy Gannon	1 September 2008 (2008-09-01)	5.45
2	"Episode 2"	David Evans	Lucy Gannon	8 September 2008 (2008-09-08)	5.20
3	"Episode 3"	David Evans	Lucy Gannon	15 September 2008 (2008-09-15)	5.17

References

^ "The Children". UK: Amazon. 26 December 2008.
^ "Broadcasters Audience Research Board". BARB. Retrieved 3 May 2022.

External links

The Children at IMDb

[1] "The Children". UK: Amazon. 26 December 2008.

[2] "Broadcasters Audience Research Board". BARB. Retrieved 3 May 2022.

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