BROKEN, BBC1, 9pm
A TEARFUL woman enters Father Michael’s confessional and tells him of her terrible sins, seeking absolution. In trying to pull her back from the edge he admits he too has done awful things, for which he atones every day. He mentions two sins. She tempts one story from him, but the other is too “raw” for him to confront.
We’re slowly getting more insight into the dark horror in Michael’s past but it’s just not as interesting as the other storyline, that of Christina and her poverty. Unfortunately, this is a Michael-heavy episode.
We join Christina as a body is removed from the house and the police arrest her for preventing a lawful burial, but the main focus is Michael and his feelings of hopelessness as he tries to help those being dragged down by Austerity Britain, such as a young black boy who’s been turfed out of a mental health unit due to cuts. It’s a noble sub-plot but it does make the drama feel crammed, like Jimmy McGovern is frantically piling social issues on top of others. I long for some precision.
THE CHILLENDEN MURDERS, BBC2, 9pm
I LOVED this programme last week as it asked painful and distressing questions without shying away.
A team of legal experts re-assessed the evidence against Michael Stone, the man convicted of the dreadful hammer attack on Lin Russell and her two young daughters as they waked along a country lane with their swimming costumes and lunch boxes.
When Stone was convicted, it seemed he was an obvious killer – violent and unstable, with previous black marks on his record – but this brave programme carefully questions his guilt by showing there was no DNA evidence linking him to the murder scene. Indeed, the main source of his guilt seemed to be the word of a fellow prisoner who claimed Stone confessed when on remand.
That alleged confession is scrutinised tonight.
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