Critics have noted the semblance of a female Hannibal Lecter in this joust between a forensic psychiatrist and a mother accused of a heinous crime, which is not surprising as lines are lifted and adapted from 'Silence of the Lambs'. But there unfortunately any resemblance ends. The actors do what they can but it feels so inauthentic and inaccurate that it never attains any suspension of disbelief in the viewer. Emily Watson never once seems like a trained psychiatrist, quite the opposite, she is so feeble, nervous and out of her depth she comes on more like a shy librarian, consistently breaking all the rules of her training. But then as many have pointed out the facility in which she works is bogus, lethal objects are taken into secure rooms with nobody caring or checking. All the characters are pretty unpleasant too and TV cliches abound like the ritual marital sex with clothes on at the kitchen table. It is the writing and plotting which lets this down so badly, yes there are some quite nasty sparring matches but that is not enough to make a plot.
