ianlouisiana Everybody lies.That's a fact.Lies are the oil that keeps society running smoothly."How are you? "I'm fine"Even when your life is going down the pan....that's part of the human condition. But big lies are something else.Miss J.Redgrave and Mr R.Green,a teacher, are lovers with pasts they'd rather others didn't know about.Nothing particularly unusual in that perhaps,but these are Big Lies,life - threatening lies and when their secrets are revealed they are overtaken by events they have indirectly and unwittingly caused. Miss Redgrave has told her son that his father was an RAF hero killed in the Gulf War.He wasn't,he was a serial killer.And is still alive. Mr Robson has neglected to mention that his late wife hanged herself when he was discovered to have been having an affair with a former pupil. When these deceptions are uncovered it is not surprising that their relationship is put under somewhat of a strain. A teenage girl obsessed with Mr Green is found murdered. Both he and Miss Redgrave's son become suspects. Miss T.Fitzgerald is the detective with the task of untangling the web of deceit surrounding the killing. What separates "Like father,like son" from the run - of - the - mill TV psych - thriller is the performances. Miss J.Redgrave in particular is outstanding as the mother whose one nightmare is that her son should find out who his father is. "Am I like him?" he asks innocently."yes",she says;and then he finds out the truth.Her ordered life spirals out of control. Mr Green is more restrained than usual and all the better for it. You can see him struggling with the fact that his past is about to become common knowledge and that it will hardly help him in his predicament. Shown now in two episodes on "True Entertainment","Like father like son" is proof that there is TV gold to be found in the most unlikely places.

sergepesic British television programs are way more interesting than average American fare. They tackle much more believable topics and have much better actors. British actors have superior acting skills, and look like real people. American actors look like actors, it is impossible to relate to plastic people. This patticural movie doesn't belong to the top of British TV production. The script tries very hard to outsmart itself, so in return becomes completely contrived. The people are real, but the situation they are supposed to convey is not, hence the problem. If you are able to get over the imperfections and occasional messiness of the script, you will be entertained, but not much more.

steven-222 When an ITV murder thriller is this rife with heterosexual dysfunction, you know who the killer must be: The Homosexual.Who murdered the sexy blonde teenager (who's also a pathological liar) on her way home from school? Let's see, could it be the mother who (against all common sense) is letting her teenaged son make unchaperoned visits to his serial-killer father behind bars? Could it be the moody son, who's impressed by his dad's no-nonsense attitude about women? Could it be the serial killer himself, who seems able to manipulate events from behind bars, a la Hannibal Lecter? Could it be mom's boyfriend, a teacher at the school whose affair with an ex-student led to his wife's suicide? Or could it be boyfriend's daughter, who goes blabbing everyone's secrets at school, causing untold misery? No, it's none of these likely suspects. It's...The Homosexual!The only mystery for the viewer is guessing who The Homosexual is. Of course, it could be anybody, since the only characteristics of The Homosexual are shameful secrecy and a propensity to murder and otherwise make life complicated for the "normal" folks. The Homosexual is the invisible root cause of society's ills; only when this person is exposed and eliminated can the fractured family come back together, and things can return to normal...whatever that is.As for the cast, both Jemma Redgrave and Robson Green are now officially past their sell-by dates. The world could get by marvelously without ever seeing either on screen again, but as long as ITV has roles for The Aggrieved Woman and The Misunderstood Man, I suppose they'll keep coming back in movies like this one.

Huw Nathan This is a gripping psychological thriller with plenty of twists and turns.There a number of impressive performances from Tara Fitzgerald (as the Detective Inspector),Jemma Redgrave(as the harassed mother), Robson Green (as the kindly school teacher, who finds himself fighting for both his career and reputation,due to the actions of others), Phil Davis (as the boy's imprisoned father) and the young boy who when faced by constant bullying and prejudice, feels compelled to make a stand. The screenplay and direction has been well handled. A young boy has been brought up in total ignorance of his origins with devastating consequences. It transpires that several people have been carrying long harboured secrets, which begin to unravel following the unexpected sequence of events. There are some powerful scenes such as the classroom debate by the provocative schoolgirl with her espousal of William Shakespeare's play "Othello" and when she corners her teacher following the end of the lesson by making an unexpected pass at him. There some vivid scenes as the girl is followed into the woods.