''Unconditional Love'' is a one-off 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 film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

that was broadcast on 20 January 2003. Written by

Chris Lang Chris Lang (born 1961) is a British screenwriter, producer and actor. Lang has written for many British television series but is best known as the writer, creator and executive producer of ''Unforgotten''. Career Actor He trained at RADA, g ...

, the production starred

Robson Green Robson Golightly Green (born 18 December 1964) is an English actor, angler, singer-songwriter and presenter. His first major TV role was as hospital porter Jimmy Powell in BBC drama series '' Casualty'' in 1989. He then went on to portray Fusi ...

Joe Absolom Joe Absolom (born 16 December 1978) is an English actor known for his roles as Matthew Rose in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'' and Al Large in the ITV comedy drama ''Doc Martin''. Early life Absolom was born in Lewisham, London. A former pu ...

Sarah Parish Sarah Parish (born 7 June 1968) is an English actress. She is known for her work on television series including: ''The Pillars of the Earth'', ''Peak Practice'', '' Hearts and Bones'', ''Cutting It'', ''Doctor Who'', '' Mistresses'', ''Merlin'', ...

and Timothy Krause, and follows the story of a couple whose four-year-old son is kidnapped, and his captor demands that they commit a series of crimes in order to secure his safe return. The drama was directed by Ferdinand Fairfax and produced by Mark Pybus.

Plot

Pete (

) & Lydia Gray (

) are out celebrating their son Max (Timothy Krause)'s fourth birthday, when they become involved in one of every parent's worst nightmares; as Max is snatched by embittered Benjamin Cain (

), his half-brother, who since his birth in 1982, has endured various degrees of

abuse Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other t ...

perversion Perversion is a form of human behavior which deviates from what is considered to be orthodox or normal. Although the term ''perversion'' can refer to a variety of forms of deviation, it is most often used to describe sexual behaviors that are con ...

, abandonment,

addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use o ...

and

betrayal Betrayal is the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations. Ofte ...

. He now has concocted a plan to gain revenge on his abusers and his so-called loving birth parent, who gave him up for adoption, leaving him to the mercy of those who exploited the system, just so they could abuse their positions of power and indulge in their perverted pleasures of

pedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...

Cast

as Pete Gray *

as Lydia Gray *

as Benjamin Cain * Timothy Krause as Max Gray *

Peter Capaldi Peter Dougan Capaldi (; born 14 April 1958) is a Scottish actor, director, writer and musician. He portrayed the Twelfth Doctor, twelfth incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in ''Doctor Who'' (2013–2017) and Malcolm Tucker in ' ...

as D.I. Terry Machin *

Kaye Wragg Kaye Michelle Wragg (born 15 December 1972) is an English actress best known for her television roles as Sergeant Diane Noble in ''The Bill'', Kate Oakley in ''No Angels'', Essie Harrison (now known as Essie di Lucca) in ''Holby City'' from 20 ...

as D.S. Hayley Greene *

Shaun Parkes Shaun Parkes (born 9 February 1973) is an English actor. Biography At 16, Parkes enrolled at Seltec College to study drama. Two years later, he was accepted into RADA. Having acted in both theatre and television support roles, Parkes made his ...

as D.S. Steve Webber * Howard Ward as Mike Farley * Ross Gurney-Randall as Kelly *

Anatol Yusef Anatol Yusef is an English stage, film and television actor, writer, director. He is best known for his work at The Royal Shakespeare Company, for his portrayal of Meyer Lansky in the television series ''Boardwalk Empire'', and Channel 4's ''S ...

as the Security Guard * Jean Trend as the Nursery Teacher * Valerie Mikita as the Singer

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Unconditional Love (2003 film) ITV television dramas 2003 films