Trauma

I thought the conclusion was ridiculous. At the very least you would have expected the outcome to be that the surgeon had been drinking and had made a catastrophic mistake, not a mistake that a person under any kind of pressure could make, you know the kind of pressure of a father breaking into the operating theatre, the kind of mistake that would be ruled as just that, unfortunate but a known incident that might occur. And then they both said they weren't pressing charges. He would have got off the beating with a fine, but Dan would have been in prison not looking at drawings his children had made at visiting time. He stalked, he took hostages and held them at knife point. Ludicrous. And I don't think the surgeon's wife would have stitched him up in a witness statement either, she would have confirmed that he had a few sips of wine not that he had had a few, she could have claimed that the pressure of being held hostage made her say that, and that might have been a better end. Dan in prison knowing that he had been right, but certainly deserving of prison for what he did.

Victims just saying they "didn't want to press charges" shouldn't be - and as far as I know, isn't - enough to avoid prosecution for kicking the stuffing out of someone, or for threatening people with a knife in their home. Assuming they have enough evidence the police are likely to bring charges anyway, in the public interest; victims might have their wishes taken into account, but they don't otherwise have any say over whether any action is brought.

The production left quite a nasty taste in my mouth. Not only did Dan have a big chip on his shoulder, his determination to find someone to blame is typical I think of today's society, and we saw something similar recently in 'Kiri' on C4. I don't remember it being like that in this country when I was young - awful things sometimes happened, and lessons would be learnt and steps taken to prevent it in future if possible, but there would often be agreement that life would occasionally throw such things at you. Nowadays it seems no matter how unpredictable a disastrous event is, it's got to be someone's fault and somebody has to be found to take the blame.

Actingwise, I thought John Simm did well in his unsavoury and unhinged role, capably switching between being charming, bitter or vengeful.

Another disappointing ending. It felt as though the writer just ran out of steam and couldn’t think how to finish it. I also thought that it wasn’t their decision to press charges , the police had the knife covered in Dan’s fingerprints so unless the whole family lied and said he didn’t threaten them I can’t see how he’d have got away with it. Why did John’s daughter turn against her father, did I miss something?

Yes another one that finished and our reaction was Oh is that it ?

Goodness, reading reviews here makes me glad I didn't watch this. I thought, given that it was the same writer as Dr Foster, that it would be OTT and unbelievable, and it sounds as if that's the case. Better off with Collateral!