One Of Us - meet the cast
There's a storm brewing in Scotland in BBC1's British crime thriller One of Us – and we're not just talking about the weather.
Childhood Sweethearts Grace Douglas and Adam Elliot lie brutally murdered in their Edinburgh home. Their families, close neighbours in the remote village of Braeston in the Scottish Highlands, are distraught. With a storm raging outside the murderer arrives on their doorstep, badly injured.
Here's your who's who guide...
John Lynch
Who does he play?
Bill Douglas, father to the murdered Grace and married to Moira, Grace’s mother.
Where do I recognise him from?
Lynch’s acting career spans four decades – take your pick from The Secret Garden, crime drama The Fall, Lassie, and his portrayal of a troubled footballing genius in Best.
Joanna Vanderham
Who does she play?
Claire Elliot, compassionate care home worker and sister to the murdered Adam.
Where do I recognise her from?
She played a beautiful society girl in Dancing on the Edge and has held prominent roles in What Maisie Knew, The Paradise and period drama series Banished.
Juliet Stevenson
Who does she play?
Louise Elliot, Mum to Adam, Claire and their brother Rob. She’s estranged from her husband and has a frosty relationship with Moira Douglas that borders on animosity.
Where do I recognise her from?
Bend It Like Beckham, Emma, Infamous, Being Julia, The Village and the ever-popular Truly, Madly, Deeply.
Julie Graham
Who does she play?
Moira Douglas, the mother of Grace and wife of Bill.
Where do I recognise her from?
The Bill (she’s appeared in three roles in the long-running crime drama), Survivors, The Bletchley Circle and sitcom Benidorm.
Joe Dempsie
Who does he play?
Rob, the eldest sibling of the Elliot clan.
Where do I recognise him from?
He appeared in all three miniseries offshoots of 2006 drama This is England. You’ll also recognise him from Skins and his Game of Thrones role as muscular blacksmith Gendry.
Georgina Campbell
Who does she play?
Rob’s girlfriend Anna.
Where do I recognise her from?
She's the protagonist in unsettling drama Murdered by My Boyfriend, which is based on a real-life story of domestic abuse, and has also appeared in After Hours and black comedy series Flowers.
Gary Lewis
Who does he play?
Alastair, a worker on the Douglas farm.
Where do I recognise him from?
The Scot boasts an impressive résumé and has appeared in the likes of Gangs of New York, Billy Elliot, Filth, and Outlander.
Cristian Ortega
Who does he play?
The taciturn younger brother of Grace, Jamie has an unhealthy fixation on Claire.
Where do I recognise him from?
Ortega is making his screen debut so you probably don’t.
What a clever little thriller this is shaping up to be.
We start with an horrific killing, look straight into the eyes of the desperate drug-crazed murderer of a beautiful young couple Adam and Grace (who is pregnant) and… then what? Where can it go from here?
Well, we go the family that’s what, facing the unbearable unthinkable impact of their grief before another twist. The killer we assumed to be a random attacker hot foots it in a stolen car up to the remote Scottish highlands where the two families live. But before he can carry out whatever nefarious deed he was planning he crashes. The family find him barely alive, realise he is the murderer (he has their postcode written down, so is clearly looking for them, and is wearing dead Adam’s watch) and then imprison him.
Only writers Jack and Harry Williams have yet another twist for us: Rob (Joe Dempsie, below) has been lying and had not called the emergency services. And the killer, who has been caged by the families, is then finished off in the middle of the night, despite the best attentions of Joanna Vanderham's Claire (below), the medic who puts the ethics of her work ahead of her feelings while caring for a man who killed her brother.
But before you can say "who killed him?" and "will they get away with it?" there’s another twist. Louise’s estranged husband Peter, played by Adrian Edmondson, reacts in a decidedly weird manner to the news that his son has been killed: he doesn’t seem to be too bothered. He tells his new wife that there was “no-one” on the phone when he listened to the voicemail. Cue credits.
It’s a strong opener to what promises to be a gripping four-part series with plenty to be resolved.
The Williams brothers have a knack for playing creatively with well-known genres (think their James Nesbitt series The Missing which focused on a missing child but held back until the very end the revelation of whether the youngster was alive or not) and they seem to have pulled it off again.
This is about the murder of a murdererer by the victim's families, which explores the nature of grief and retribution in new and interesting ways.
It reminded me a little of Scandi Noir; not just in the rain sodden beautiful grey and gloomy scenery but in the way the drama focuses on the aftermath of a murder, rather in the manner of those brilliant opening episodes of The Killing series one which was steeped in powerful emotions emanating from a killing. Many of the scenes are also lit from behind – eery, and chilling, all a bit Reservoir Dogs.
A word too for the scenery which does its job magnificently. “It’s just a bit of weather Bill,” says Gary Lewis’ hardened farmhand Alastair at one point but of course it’s more than that. The crashing storms are a fitting metaphor for the emotional life of the characters but director William McGregor does a good job with the visual metaphors. I liked the cutaway to the spider’s web, which echoes a line earlier in the drama and is one of many finely judged visual metaphors for the hell this family now finds itself in.
Of course there are questions to be asked. The plot requires the police to be given a back seat early on. Quite why they hadn’t visited the family yet suggests they may not be up to the job but there is an intriguing set up with Laura Fraser’s character Juliet. She's a detective who deals drugs to help fund an operation for what we presume is her cancer stricken daughter. And with this story she has her work cut out.
Also, the performances are first rate, even if a lot of the acting requires rather a lot of frenetic emoting as this horror story unfolds.
But when we're dealing with frenetic emotion, it's also true to say that Juliet Stevenson (below) is made for the role of howling angry stricken mother Louise, and I also liked the interaction between Juliet Graham ‘s Moira and John Lynch as her husband John. These acting veterans are ably supported by the younger cast.
I'm quite excited at the prospect of episode two and will probably join Louise for a stiff one...
One of Us Continues on Tuesday nights on BBC1 at 9pm
