A Mother's Son was shown on American PBS TV in April 2015. I watched it back to back without stopping. Bit like a book you can't put down, total page turner.At first I wondered if it was trying to be another Broadchurch as it's set in a seaside town and it's got some big name British actors featured but it was more straightforward and less convoluted.I enjoyed it immensely; all the actors were superb especially Hermione Norris, whom I last saw in Val McDermid's mystery series Wire in the Blood and before that Cold Feet. This character was totally different to both those and totally relatable. I kept thinking what if this was my son or daughter? How would I react? I hope I never know. Also Martin Clune is so typecast to me as Doc Martin I could hardly see past that but tried very hard and in the end succeeded. The mother of the dead girl, Annabelle Apsion, is also in Doc Martin and Call the Midwife and even though she was only in this show for a few minutes her grief and numbness shone - mesmerising performance.The only niggle I have is that the mother looked into the internet search history of her son to find lots of violent porno references and I wish they had elaborated on this topic/influence/cause as this is something I'm sure many parents are having a hard time dealing with in today's instant world when porn is simply a click of the button away.Very believable and well done to all involved.

Would have changed one thing... at the end... Mom says; "I think you did a bad thing and you know you must be punished." Would have been more appropriate to say, 'and you know you need to take responsibility'. Also included I think should have been, 'you can't be a bad person, or you wouldn't be feeling sorry... that says you did a bad thing, but you are not inherently bad.' Heartwrenching show. Well played. Hard to know how it would play in real life. Really, really, hard, and heartwrenching. Acting was all very good. The way the story developed was very realistic and provided just enough suspense and doubt. I can imagine every parent would dread such a thing ever happening to them, and pray that it never does.

My wife and I were spellbound. This has engaging characters; a subtle plot and excellent performances.The reason that the plot is so mesmerising is that it is so feasible. It is totally believable that a young boy could panic and do something, which he then sees is stupid. It is totally believable that the family and step family will act as they did. The intra-family tensions have an inevitability,which mirrors real life.As the two sides of the family start to fragment under the pressure of suspicion the feeling is that, like a Greek tragedy, they may not want to do so but nothing can stop it happening.There is excellent directing and first rate performances both from the lead actors and the young actors who play the family.I saw it as a single piece, rather than the original two. It is better viewed as a single whole! We would absolutely recommend this!

I'm afraid I couldn't disagree more with the previous reviewer. I found 'A Mother's Son' to be very compelling viewing. I thought Chris Lang's script was wonderful - natural-sounding dialogue, and for one hour fifty minutes of the two hours I was unsure who had actually committed the crime, so deftly did he hint at the possible guilt of first one, and then of another character.The casting was just as good. Martin Clunes revealed acting skills I hadn't previously seen him display as Rosie's second husband, and his character, Ben, was a wonderful contrast to David, her first, superbly played by Paul McGann.The drama focuses on the suspicions of the mother (Rosie) that her son from her first marriage may have been involved in the murder of a local schoolgirl, and her dilemma as to how best to deal with those suspicions. Hermione Norris, who plays Rosie, has a real talent for portraying women on the edge, and she uses it to its fullest extent here. Only once does Rosie completely lose her composure; the rest of the time her torment is repressed and, with increasing difficulty, held in silent check. Ms Norris, however, can do more with silence and a slight change of expression than others can do with many pages of script, and I sometimes found Rosie's anguish almost too painful to watch.Alexander Arnold, who plays her son Jamie, is equally good, moving seamlessly from sullenness to anger and then fear, and all the time seeming to me to give a very accurate portrayal of a wayward teenager.Yes, it isn't an all-action drama, yes, the build-up of tension is slow, but it's steady, relentless, and, I thought, very effective. Perhaps it's the kind of thoughtful, thought-PROVOKING drama that isn't likely to be wildly popular with a mass audience, but it certainly left an impression on me. Two days after watching it I was still wondering 'What would I have done?'