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Nearly 9 years ago, 9 year old Shannon Matthews was reported missing. It led to a nationwide appeal with her mother, Karen, being at the forefront of this. However, in a twist of events, Shannon was found in the house of man known to Karen and Karen was in on the plan. This drama by the BBC follows the story of this!

 

Really interested and excited to watch this especially as it has Sheridan Smith in it and, my new fave after this series of Sherlock, Sian Brooke! It's such an odd but fascinating chain of events.

 

They've really made Gemma Whelan (Yara Greyjoy from GoT) look exactly like Karen too! :o

This will be great to watch and a fab cast as well! :o

NINE YEARS?! Where the hell has time gone :o

 

Sheridan's amazing so I'm really looking forward to this.

Powerful stuff this. Great performance from Sheridan Smith. Shame the mother got set free

Really impressed with this! Still quite hard hitting but an interesting take on the whole situation. Will be interesting to see what next week's episode has in store!

I really enjoyed this. I thought it was well acted. I'll be interested to see what episode 2 brings.

Thought the first episode was excellent! I liked how it focused on how community got together to help find her whilst also giving a glimpse into the... oddities of Karen. They really were some odd moments regarding Karen and her partner though including the fact that he was just playing games on his computer and her dancing to the ringtone. Also, I know once Shannon was found it meant that her plan was over and there was a chance she would get caught now but she could at least have tried to cover herself rather than giving the game away by going 'can I go home now' after she'd identified Shannon (if that really happened like that anyway, I know its a drama).

I thought it was a great watch from start to finish! I'm really looking forward to seeing part 2 and the fallout. Gemma did an incredible job as Karen Matthews! She looks so much like her! :o

Saw the first episode yesterday and it was great. Heartwarming, emotional and magnificent.

Can't wait for the second episode. :D

 

Firstly, I found this two-parter absolutely fascinating and a great drama to watch. However, the second episode left me with mixed feelings. The way the story was told, the character I felt most sorry for by the end of the episode was... Karen? I don't know the details of the real case except for the most basic, but treating this as a drama with characters that weren't based on a well-known true story, the way this second episode was told made me feel sorry and sympathetic towards Karen. Of course, what she did was still horrible for Shannon. Although as Shannon was absent from this story, she didn't cross my mind as much as she would've done when it was happening in real life.

 

The way this story was told seemed like they were justifying Karen's actions, most prominently through Julie's speech in court and the use of the word 'damaged' which I had thought myself just before she said it herself. It made me feel sympathy for Karen. That's probably a very wrong emotion to feel, but basing the story on the way it was told in *this* drama that's how it came across to me.

 

Overall, it was a great watch as I say. I just feel like I'm feeling emotions I shouldn't be feeling, and I don't know if that was the point of the story writers or just very misguided storytelling from them. I know they were telling it from Julie's point of view so perhaps this was the intention, seeing as Julie was the only person to forgive her. Perhaps they told the story from Julie's point of view so well that we have all become Julie watching it? Just thinking aloud now, but I'm hoping I'm not the only person to feel this way.

I understand what you mean but I think it was intended to take a more neutral look at the case, or rather giving both sides of the story, rather than vindicating Karen and perhaps even the neighbourhood as would be the easy way to do it. Whilst you had those scenes with Julie where she was saying that she was damaged, you have had all those scenes where Karen is loving the attention or doesn't seem to care about her children.

 

From what I've heard, Karen wasn't the most intelligent and, of course there's no excusing what she did because it was horrific but I think the show helped to put forward a reason perhaps why she did it. Of course it was also telling the story through the eyes of her two friends, one who didn't forgive but one who sort of did and whilst the latter's story was pushed further, it did allow you to experience both sides.

 

I think another aspect is that it is one part about Karen but another part of the story was about the estate and how the community got together. Working class estates like that are always written off by the media and the public, and was even done so at the time by David Cameron and so the show also made clear as to not vindicate the estate and actually show it in a positive light which is a really important move. I think, again, the positives of the estate was shown through the two friends, one who is prepared to find out the truth of what happened and eventually support the police and the other who brings the community together and will also give her friend perhaps the support she needs even if she doesn't agree with what she did.

 

It was an excellent drama overall and really well done I feel, for all the points I've raised above!