joannpl I had high hopes when I saw the cast. But eventually it was tiring to watch. At first it was heart-warming to see people gather to do something good and that they stay united. Nevertheless, I do not like stupidity and pathology. Therefore I understood the feelings of betrayal and hostility towards the "mom" character. She fully presented a dumb woman, destroyed by her life choices (her family was mentioned as a non-pathological), leaving no doubt what sort of human-being she really is. I was sorry for the children, I felt claustrophobic by the number of people coming and going through the neighbours' houses and I felt depressed after watching the series. I don't understand how it can be hinted that if a person had bad life ( because she has no moral compass and likes to give birth to children aparently) she can be rid of responsibility... Stupidity is not an excuse.

asimov-5 I won't go into any details because you should watch it and make up your mind.The acting is brilliant, you would hardly believe that Gemma Whelan was the same person that played Yara Greyjoy in "Game of Thrones".The story was basically play by numbers, you didn't really learn anything new if you saw this on the news.I do think this could have been a three parter. We didn't really see the aftermath other than a few shouty bits at the end. I really wanted to see the impact it had on the town at the end, but it seemed to end rather suddenly.It would have been nice to see what happened when she came out of prison, but we saw nothing of this.I will repeat however that the acting was top notch, but I was left a little disappointed with the story.

jc-osms This BBC dramatisation of the kidnap of schoolgirl Shannon Matthews by her own mother and young step-father's uncle in 2008 made for uncomfortably tough viewing. Controversially alluding to the nearly contemporary disappearance of young Madeleine McCann, it seems that the two accomplices sought to benefit financially from the reward money after the little girl's disappearance had been extensively publicised thanks in no small measure to the local community campaigning tirelessly to find her. It's a crime that seems completely inexplicable and we the viewer get to share the initial incredulity and later sense of betrayal at Matthews for taking them in for so long a period.The drama almost completely ignores the uncle who actually hid the young girl for days and instead concentrates on the mother, a hapless, feckless individual with numerous children to different men, who looks a fright throughout with her comb-over hair and slovenly appearance. How she interacts with her two best friends and neighbours, played by Sheridan Smith and Sian Brooke, the one tirelessly supportive the other increasingly sceptical, underpins the dramatic tension of the piece.The depiction of this poor working-class community and their surroundings is convincingly done and the acting by the three leads is very good. Gemma Whelan as Karen Matthews is particularly compelling as a woman desperate for love and attention but who takes her need way too far in shamefully exposing her own daughter to harm. Smith looks almost unrecognisable in her dressed-down, fattened-up role as the community's main cheer-leader and Brooke is also very good as the doubting Thomasina of the town who suspects Matthews almost from the first.Throughout we were given no scenes at all showing the daughter's imprisonment, indeed she is barely seen at all in the whole two hours running time. I accepted this as we all knew how the story played out anyway although I did think the uncle, who got the same eight year jail sentence as Matthews, should have been given more prominence for his connivance in the scheme. I did think at times there was too much focus on Smith's character. Even though I get that we were meant to see the whole thing through her eyes and thus feel with her the disappointment of her disillusionment and revulsion at the crime committed by her so-called friend, perhaps more could have been done to highlight the effect of all this on the innocent eight year old girl herself.Was the BBC right on taste grounds to make this film when it's still fresh in the viewers' memories and with the young girl at the centre of it still presumably trying to get on with her life? That's perhaps debatable, but it certainly made for gritty, compelling above-average TV drama.

ianlouisiana This sad episode is perhaps too recent to view objectively. The deeply flawed Karen Matthews was nobody's idea of a paragon of the maternal virtues but surely she could not have been as stupid as this production has portrayed her.Nor can her friends have been so sheep - like,just ready for someone - anyone - to tell them what to do. Obligingly along comes Miss S.Smith as a gobby advocate for the Moorside who sees the opportunity for what she sees as being helpful as well as seizing her 15 minutes at the same time as winding up the Old Bill and bullying her neighbours into doing her wishes without really thinking about the possibility that she might be harming the child's chance of being found alive. Puffy eyed and heavy of face,Miss Smith is a stranger to restraint as the single mother brow - beating and threatening her way to a TV spot as the hunt for the child grows wider. Only her friend Natalie(excellent Miss S.Brooke) is willing to stand up to her. As we all know the outcome of this incident there was no tension,merely a vague anxiety about what Miss Smith might do when she finds out that she(and all the others)has been played for a mug. Best performance by far is by Miss S.Finneran as this Detective who is unfortunate enough to be Family Liaison. The guy who plays Karen Matthews' partner looked so much like Radar O' Reilly that I giggled every time he came on screen.Presumably not the affect he was supposed to create. I understand the intention of "The Moorside" was to present a more positive image for the residents,but I'm afraid that in that it has not succeeded.