''A Mother's Son'' is a British

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

television mini-series, created by Chris Lang, which was first broadcast on ITV1 on 4 and 5 September 2012. The series was produced by the ITV Studios. Hermione Norris, Martin Clunes, Paul McGann, Nicola Walker and Alexander Arnold star as the main protagonists of the series. In 2015, ''A Mother's Son'' was adapted by Didier Le Pêcheur for French television in a co-production between EuropaCorp Television and ITV Studios France under the title ''Tu es mon fils''. The French version, starring

Anne Marivin Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

Thomas Jouannet Thomas Jouannet (born 30 September 1970 in Geneva) is Swiss actor. Biography Jouannet started in a theatre class in Geneva, then he went to Paris and was trained by Jean Périmony. He started his career in several French TV series and TV mov ...

and

Charles Berling Charles Berling (born 30 April 1958) is a French actor, director and screenwriter. Life and career Charles Berling, son of a navy doctor, is also the nephew of the literary critic Raymond Picard. His mother, Nadia, "only daughter of (French) se ...

, first aired on

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is par ...

on 23 February 2015, garnering 6.5 million viewers.

Plot

Lorraine Mullary, a local schoolgirl, goes missing and is later found murdered, throwing the sleepy

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

of Eastlee in which she lived into turmoil. Among them are the newly merged family of Rosie ( Hermione Norris) and Ben ( Martin Clunes) and their four children. Rosie begins to worry about son Jamie ( Alexander Arnold), suspecting him of lying to her about his movements on the night of Lorraine's murder. When she finds a stained pair of trainers hidden in his bedroom, she worries the stains might be blood. As the investigation continues, relationships in the family become strained. Jamie turns for support to his father David ( Paul McGann). But Rosie finds she cannot suppress the growing fear that her son might be guilty of something truly terrible.

Recording

The series was filmed in and around the town of Southwold in Suffolk (just ten miles south of Britain's most easterly point,

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

), as well as the nearby village of

Walberswick Walberswick is a village and civil parish on the Suffolk coast in England. It is at the mouth of the River Blyth on the south side of the river. The town of Southwold lies to the north of the river and is the nearest town to Walberswick, around ...

. Shops on Southwold high street became the backdrop for many scenes, with local residents given the chance to appear as extras to keep the plot as close to life as possible. ''A Mother's Son'' became the second drama series to be filmed in the town, following Michael Palin's ''

East of Ipswich ''East of Ipswich'' is a BBC television drama from 1987 written by Michael Palin, based on his own memories of dreary holidays in English coastal towns in the 1950s. It is the story of the rite of passage of 17-year-old Richard Burrill; Palin c ...

'' which was filmed and broadcast in 1987. Several scenes are also filmed in the Hertfordshire village of

Kings Langley Kings Langley is a village, former Manorialism, manor and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, north-west of Westminster in the historic centre of London and to the south of the Chiltern Hills. It now forms part o ...

Cast

* Hermione Norris as Rosie Cutler * Martin Clunes as Ben Banks * Paul McGann as David Cutler * Alexander Arnold as Jamie Cutler * Ellie Bamber as Olivia 'Livvy' Cutler * Jake Davies as Rob Banks *

Antonia Clarke Antonia Sophia E. Clarke (born 24 May 1995) is an English actress and singer. Her films include ''Altar'' (2014) and ''All My Friends Hate Me'' (2021). On television, she is known for her roles as young Emmeline in the BBC Two film ''The Thirteen ...

as Jess Banks * Juliet Yorke as Lorraine Mullary *

Annabelle Apsion Jane Annabelle Apsion (born 17 September 1960 in Hammersmith, London) is an English actress best known for playing Monica Gallagher in the hit television comedy-drama '' Shameless'' (2004-2013), Joy Wilton in '' Soldier Soldier'' (1991-1995), a ...

as Kay Mullary * Nicola Walker as D.C. Sue Upton * Charles Daish as D.C.I. Thomas McCleish

Episodes

Reception

Reviewing the series in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' Sam Wollaston called it "tense, absorbing, thrilling". Nigel Farndale, writing in ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' praised it as "a taut, psychological thriller that will have left every parent who watched it feeling uneasy, maybe even culpable," while Alex Hardy in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' was impressed by "A striking portrait of the asymmetrical compartmentalised nature of one family of our times."

References

External links

*
''A Mother's Son''
on ITV {{DEFAULTSORT:Mother's Son (TV Series) 2012 British television series debuts 2012 British television series endings 2010s British crime television series 2010s British television miniseries British detective television series English-language television shows ITV television dramas Television series by ITV Studios Television shows set in Suffolk 2010s British drama television series