The British tradition of "kitchen sink" social realism, so important in the late fifties and early sixties, largely disappeared from the cinema screen in the seventies; "Spring and Port Wine" from 1969 seemed to mark the end of the line. That does not mean that it disappeared altogether as the genre found a new home on television, especially as part of the BBC's "Play for Today" series. "When the Bough Breaks" falls within this tradition, although Eddie and Sheila Gosse, the couple at the centre of the drama, do not even have a kitchen because they do not have a house or flat to live in. Their only home is a battered, dirty old caravan which they rent from a farmer. By comparison, the main characters in "kitchen sink" films like "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" or "Look Back in Anger" have never had it so good.
The action begins with Sheila bringing Mandy, the couple's infant daughter, who has suffered a mysterious injury to her head, into hospital. The doctor who examines the girl quickly realises that she has been the victim of abuse and has suffered two other unexplained injuries. The case is referred to Margaret Ashdown, a social worker with the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children), who has to decide where the blame lies.
At first the more likely suspect seems to be Eddie, a powerfully built man with a quick temper. He is uneducated and has a criminal record, and is unable to hold down a steady job, subsisting on what he can earn from casual labouring work. Yet Margaret quickly realises that Eddie is not a violent man; his two criminal convictions were for petty dishonesty. He loves children, and has bonded strongly with Timmy, Sheila's young son from an earlier relationship. Eddie too has a failed marriage behind him, and wants to make his relationship with Sheila work.
Sheila is strikingly attractive and considerably younger than Eddie; there is a hint that he feels that she would have been "out of his league" if she had not been an unmarried mother. At first she seems quiet and demure, but it soon becomes clear that she has secrets hidden in her past, and Margaret begins to suspect that she may have been the abuser. One difficulty she faces, however, is that both Eddie and Sheila are instinctively distrustful of anyone in a position of authority; Eddie even refuses to claim unemployment benefit when he is out of work because to do so would mean engaging with "the system".
The play has been described as a semi-documentary procedural case study about the work of the child protection services, but there is more to it than that. Hannah Gordon as Margaret never quite conveys her character's central dilemma, the clash between the need for professional objectivity and a highly emotional situation which makes such objectivity difficult, if not impossible. The actors in the other two main roles, however, Neil McCarthy as Eddie and Cheryl Kennedy as Sheila, both give excellent performances. The result is a heartbreaking story which showed the British public a side of British life which they were not used to seeing in the media, even in "kitchen sink" dramas. It's not a true story, but it could have been when it was first shown in 1971. Unfortunately, it could still be a true story fifty years on. 8/10.
The action begins with Sheila bringing Mandy, the couple's infant daughter, who has suffered a mysterious injury to her head, into hospital. The doctor who examines the girl quickly realises that she has been the victim of abuse and has suffered two other unexplained injuries. The case is referred to Margaret Ashdown, a social worker with the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children), who has to decide where the blame lies.
At first the more likely suspect seems to be Eddie, a powerfully built man with a quick temper. He is uneducated and has a criminal record, and is unable to hold down a steady job, subsisting on what he can earn from casual labouring work. Yet Margaret quickly realises that Eddie is not a violent man; his two criminal convictions were for petty dishonesty. He loves children, and has bonded strongly with Timmy, Sheila's young son from an earlier relationship. Eddie too has a failed marriage behind him, and wants to make his relationship with Sheila work.
Sheila is strikingly attractive and considerably younger than Eddie; there is a hint that he feels that she would have been "out of his league" if she had not been an unmarried mother. At first she seems quiet and demure, but it soon becomes clear that she has secrets hidden in her past, and Margaret begins to suspect that she may have been the abuser. One difficulty she faces, however, is that both Eddie and Sheila are instinctively distrustful of anyone in a position of authority; Eddie even refuses to claim unemployment benefit when he is out of work because to do so would mean engaging with "the system".
The play has been described as a semi-documentary procedural case study about the work of the child protection services, but there is more to it than that. Hannah Gordon as Margaret never quite conveys her character's central dilemma, the clash between the need for professional objectivity and a highly emotional situation which makes such objectivity difficult, if not impossible. The actors in the other two main roles, however, Neil McCarthy as Eddie and Cheryl Kennedy as Sheila, both give excellent performances. The result is a heartbreaking story which showed the British public a side of British life which they were not used to seeing in the media, even in "kitchen sink" dramas. It's not a true story, but it could have been when it was first shown in 1971. Unfortunately, it could still be a true story fifty years on. 8/10.
