A man struggles to piece together his life after suffering years of abuse in a children's home - a personal battle made doubly difficult by crusading reporters determined to expose the scandal.
Acting
Mackintosh's shattered stillness — trauma made visible in every withheld breath.
Direction
Bird refuses easy catharsis; the camera lingers where others would cut away.
Director
Antonia Bird
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made for BBC Two in 2000, this predates the UK's massive 2012 Jimmy Savile scandal and subsequent public inquiries into historic abuse — eerily prescient.
Antonia Bird was a rare female director in 1990s British television; her Priest (1994) and Ravenous (1999) similarly refused to let audiences off easy. She wanted discomfort, not resolution.
GB
