Joe is five, and spends most of his time belting out his dad's favourite music while listening to the songs on his headphones. He doesn't get invited to his classmates' parties. His mum and dad reluctantly consult doctors as to whether their son is somewhere on the spectrum of the 'A' word.
We seem to recall a similarly-themed one-off drama on ITV a few years ago with Keeley Hawes and Ben Miles as worried parents of a young boy. As there, the wider family get involved (the boy's brewer uncle and his adulterous doctor wife, the un-pc granddad played by a surely-too-young Christopher Eccleston) and there's clearly a rocky road ahead. It's watchable, has great performances and beautiful Cumbrian scenery, but at the moment it feels a little by-numbers and predictable. It's true we've been spoiled with the likes of the second series of 'Happy Valley' - better than the first - and the upcoming third series of 'Line of Duty', but we're not yet sure what this will have to offer to offer above and beyond another exploration of autism.
This is one of those fluffy-robe-and-slippers dramas to cosy up to of an autumn evening. It's set in the nice, safe 1950s and has such a nostalgic glow it's almost sepia-toned. Those who remember the 1950s may be scratching their heads at the likes of this, but along with 'Call the Midwife' and 'Quirke' it ticks a plethora of boxes for maximum appeal. Here we have a kindly, lovelorn young vicar (James Norton, whom we recently saw cold-bloodedly raping and killing as Tommy in 'Happy Valley') who befriends a kindly, careworn old cop (Robson Green, taking a break from angling) to solve murders in the titular sleepy English town.
This first story, based one of James Runcie's books, has a supposed suicide whom his mistress suspects was murdered. She's a suspect, of-course, as is his melancholy German widow, his business partner and his secretary.
Nothing new in the plot, so what about our hero? A former soldier in the war who drinks whisky, smokes, has a crush on a girl who's now engaged to someone else and loses at backgammon. Oh and he's open-minded in a way very few vicars - or indeed anyone else in a town like the fictional Grantchester - were in the 1950s. The preview for next week had the token black character who is musical, fun, popular, and the obvious suspect in a theft. OK, this is ITV prime-time stuff but does that have to mean anachronisms and cliches? It's not bad, but it could be so much better.
Daniel (Philip Glenister) tries to reconcile his wayward brother Robbo (Steven Mackintosh) with their dad Samuel (Bernard Hill) over a drink in a central Mancunian pub. Unfortunately for him, the truce fails and they are sitting feet away from the IRA bomb on the day it exploded in 1996. Nobody dies, of-course, but it proves a catalyst in all their lives. Before the end of the episode (one of three) Sam has had a stroke, Robbo has come up with not one but two insane plans to clear his debt and Daniel has begun an affair with the pub cleaner, whom he rescued from the wreckage.
This has nice moments but is mostly either predictable or unbelievable. The use of northern staples the Stone Roses and the Smiths on the soundtrack is lazy and responsible Daniel's sudden need to escape from his close (adoptive) family into the arms of a stranger just doesn't ring true. So far, this is largely a waste of a good cast, in-particularly Steven Mackintosh, who turns in an ill-advised imitation of the drug dealer in 'Withnail & I'. If you like Madchester, and these are typical residents, you may like it a little less after watching this.
