Are British audiences ready for a sympathetic portrayal of a convicted paedophile?
That is one question posed by Jimmy McGovern's "Unforgivable", said Barbara Ellen in The Observer. This one-off BBC2 drama introduces us to the Mitchells, a working-class family in Liverpool that is "buckling under the strain of an uncle who sexually abused his young nephew". The culprit, Joe (an excellent Bobby Schofield), is on early release from prison. He is forbidden even from attending his mother's funeral, and is spurned by his sister (Anna Friel), whose abused son is now being marked out for his unruly behaviour at school. Joe has "polluted the entire family" – and he knows it.
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