By Anna May @AnnaMayMight

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t that interested in watching this. I tend to find dramas about stand-alone crimes a bit dull. Yes, I know, I can’t judge any programme unless I’ve seen it, but my reason for the pre-judgement, especially where real crimes are concerned, is the all too familiar ‘this is what happened, so now you know’ kind of writing.

Compare this to a drama that draws you into the mind of a serial offender, who is driven towards a particular type of crime and feels strongly that they have a higher consciousness than those who would judge them as criminals. It’s okay for them to imprison, rape, abuse, even kill a long list of innocent people, but they are unable to accept their own imprisonment or execution as fair punishment.

These are the characters that make true-crime dramas work so well. Even if we know the story, even if we know the ending, even if we’re not that into detective stories…there is always that extra level of psychology that comes into play.

So…why did I decide to catch up on The Moorside? Well…it’s certainly not my interest in the people who committed the crime. It’s because I actually feel the story of this poor little girl and the community that rallied round to find her deserves my attention.

Her mother, Karen Matthews, is no serial offender. She appears to have no motive, other than to gain financially from her daughter’s abduction…although I guess we’ll never know if she’d have been tempted to repeat her actions, had she got away with it first time round.

If anything, her accomplice is the one with form. Michael Donovan had previously abducted his own daughter from outside her school, so either he was the instigator, or Karen Matthews had decided he was the perfect choice for the job…even though he’d been caught the first time.

I’m not sure we could call either Matthews or Donovan calculating in their attempt to bag the £50,000 reward for finding Shannon. A single page of instructions for Donovan to follow was pretty much all her mother managed…and the idea that, between them, they could keep their involvement a secret speaks volumes about their naivety.

That is, however, one similarity to the mind-set of a serial offender I can accept. Often, there is an almost child-like attitude that doesn’t quite make sense. However, a serial killer is ‘clever’ enough to be able to blend into society without suspicion for years. Then, once arrested and imprisoned, they can’t quite grasp the severity of what they’ve done and why they’re being branded as animals.

Neither Karen Matthews nor Michael Donovan were ‘clever’ enough to hide their guilt.

I thought my recollection of the truth might dampen my reaction as events unfold on-screen, but it hasn’t. This isn’t simply a blow-by-blow account of the story…but with actors. It’s an opportunity to witness, if you like, the actions of a woman who not only put her daughter’s life in danger, by handing her over to someone she knows could harm her, but also abused the trust, love and commitment of her friends.

One thing I appreciate here is how the story goes straight into the search for Shannon. So the characters and their roles in Karen’s life are introduced to us as the episode progresses…and each event is covered neatly and concisely before moving on to the next. No time-wasting.

Karen is more than happy to let two of her closest friends, Julie and Natalie, suffer the intense burden of fighting to keep Shannon in the forefront of everyone’s minds. Sheridan Smith plays Julie Bushby…and does a fantastic job of emphasizing the turmoil and heartache Shannon’s abduction created for everyone involved.

Both she and Natalie, played by Sian Brooke, are totally oblivious to their so-called friend’s plan…and it’s just so frustrating to think Karen Matthews was treated with such empathy and compassion, when she deserved nothing of the sort.

Just knowing she was lying her head off every step of the way about such an awful crime, whilst watching every self-congratulating smirk as she drinks in the kindness and support of an entire community, really helps to put everything into perspective.

We are seeing what her friends saw…and that is a woman who is so child-like in her behaviour that it’s inconceivable she could orchestrate such a crime. Unfortunately for her, she’s unable to stay ‘in character’ as the heartbroken mother of a kidnapped, potentially murdered, child…and her random bouts of indifference to Shannon’s disappearance, in full view of her loyal friends, will prove to be her downfall in the next episode, I’m sure.

From this two-part drama, we get the impression Karen Matthews is a very immature woman, who’s been sucked into the idea that being a grown up means having boyfriends and babies. However, without the real urge to actually be a mother, she’s landed herself in a shit relationship, after already having three of her seven children sent to live with their fathers.

There doesn’t seem to be a single thought given to her children’s welfare or happiness…and Gemma Whelan, who plays Karen, doesn’t hold back in her portrayal. There is no other way to play this person. We already know the full story…and even her own friends, who collaborated with the actors playing with them, are in no doubt as to the part she played in her daughter’s abduction.

Michael Donovan, played by Sam Chapman, is the uncle of Karen’s current boyfriend, but there’s been no contact from him since Shannon’s disappearance. It seems none of his family members are keen to mention him at all during Police enquiries, but now there is a lead. Previously way down the list of people to investigate, he is immediately pulled to the top.

Bingo! Shannon is found, but don’t count on the emotional mother/daughter reunion you’d expect. Again, Karen Matthews shows herself to be more disappointed at the sight of the daughter she professes to love so much, than elated she’s been found safe and well. That’s her reward money out the window!

Karen Matthews handed her nine year old daughter over to a man she knew was capable of harming her. He hid her for just over three weeks before she was eventually found drugged up in the base of a divan bed.

Let’s just let that sink in, shall we.