I don’t usually review TV shows, though I used to write about TV and movies quite a bit. Television more so probably as I used to be quite a TV addict. It comes and goes now. Box sets and Netflix is my catnip as I’ve always been prone to watch stuff in a binge and then not turn the television on for a few weeks.
So after some positive (well, glowing) local reviews I decided to tune into The Cry – a 4-part BBC production, showing here in Australia on ABC TV. Naturally I didn’t watch it live, rather watched it online via iView over a couple of days after the first episode aired.
Of course I write this as someone who’s not read the novel on which it’s based, by Helen FitzGerald. Having done some post-viewing research (googling) however, I understand the plot is pretty consistent but the structure deviates a little from the book.

by BBC One, ABC TV
on February 2018
Source: ABC TV
Genres: Thriller / Suspense
When a baby goes missing on a lonely roadside in Australia, it sets off a police investigation that will become a media sensation and dinner-table talk across the world.
Lies, rumours and guilt snowball, causing the parents, Joanna and Alistair, to slowly turn against each other.
Finally Joanna starts thinking the unthinkable: could the truth be even more terrible than she suspected? And what will it take to make things right?
The Cry offers viewers a strong cast.
It was kinda weird for me as I’ve been binge-watching Doctor Who, so just watched Jenna Coleman in three seasons as Clara – a character (companion) who seemingly divided viewers. She seems to have been as loved as she was hated. I’ve not watched her in Victoria, but know it’s a popular show so suspect (here) she’ll mostly be recognised from that.
I of course knew Asher Keddie (as Alexandra), who’s done some great work on Oz TV and Stella Gonet as I LOVED as Beatrice in The House of Elliot back in the 1990s and had a girl crush on Bea’s sister, Evie. Well, in that I wanted to BE her. I even had my hair cut like Evie’s for a few years (and dyed brown!).
I hadn’t seen Ewen Leslie (Alistair) in anything but know Safe Harbour and Top of the Lake were both really well received.
Another recognisable face for Aussie viewers is of course Alex Dimitriades playing a cop (and former friend of Alistair’s) who’s gone on from Heartbreak High to great shows like Seven Types of Ambiguity, The Principal, Secret City, The Slap and Tidelands. (I’ve not seen the latter two.)
And it has to be said, the acting in the show was great. Fantastic. Keddie was strong as the jilted wife and raised our suspicions through her (understandably) bitter behaviour; Leslie was good as the calm and seemingly controlled political adviser Alistair – an Aussie working in Scotland. And Coleman, was surprisingly subtle as Joanna – school teacher (AGAIN… though primary school, not secondary school as per Dr Who!) and new mother.
We didn’t see much of Gonet (who played Elizabeth, Alistair’s mother) and I would have liked more as I thought her role and acting was nuanced and either the book or the show (ie. the plot) could have benefitted from more input from additional protagonists. I realise the whole narrative and story arc is centred around Joanna and Alistair and how they cope with what happens/ed to baby Noah, but it occasionally felt a little suffocating or constricted. More from Keddie (Alexandra) as an outsider-looking-in would have also been welcomed.
Of interest, in particular, was how Alexandra talked about her ex-husband and his penchant for manipulating others. The Alistair we mostly see here felt stoic rather than anything else. Even his decision to seek financial benefit via their tragedy – though distasteful – didn’t make me hate him. I did wonder why more wasn’t made of the fact that he cheated on his wife with Joanna in his marital bed, but I wondered if it was downplayed so we didn’t blame Joanna or prejudice us against her and the role she played in his marriage breakdown; given what was to come.
Of course, as I said, this is very much about the disintegrating relationship between Joanna and Alistair and the way each reacts to the tragedy, and both actors do a great job. They underplay it, rather than overplay it and that subtlety works really well. There’s initially shock and numbness, as well as a sense of self-preservation when fingers are pointed. Once the couple returns to Scotland we’re mostly watching from Joanna’s point of view, and her sense of grief and guilt is palpable. Coleman (and her character) come across as cold, but there are moments of anger and devastation amidst the detachment.
I understand the book pretty much starts at the end – so is circular in its storytelling and readers get advance notice of where things end up. The tv show is of course a slow burn (too slow some might say) so you get a bit of a reveal at the end of the second episode, a heap of backstory in the third, and another twist in the fourth.
I read some reviews on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and it hasn’t fared as well as Australian mainstream media’s reporting, though doesn’t have many reviews so its scoring is a bit skewed. There, the first couple of episodes rated lower than the last few with most commentators agreeing it picks up as it progresses.
The most common complaint there though is that it jumps about too much in time. Which indeed it does. However, I think (mostly) it’s easy to work out the timelines. It does take a while though.
(However, and as a complete aside, we were regularly shown footage of Joanna stumbling about something that looked like a fire and I wasn’t sure where this fit in – unless of course a car catches aflame. But no more on that, cos… #spoilers.)
The reviews I read of the book also mention a pivotal point involving Australian / UK Customs which I can’t recall from the TV show, though I may have been mistaken. If it wasn’t included… it’s not a big issue but would have helped… (and I can’t say more).
I loved the look of the show and the cinematography and understand it was filmed in Australia and Glasgow. Australia’s stunning eastern coastline gets a starring role as do the quintessential beachside towns scattered along the vast terrain.
We kinda know where the show’s headed via a surprise dropped upon us at the end of episode three, but I think the very final scene (in episode four) actually surprised many and was very well received. (Meanwhile I was still waiting for the fire… #dontask)
The book, by Helen FitzGerald was first released in Australia in 2013 and available via Allen & Unwin.
I really enjoyed this and am tempted to read the book to see if:
- Alastair is any different in the book (more as described by his ex-wife)
- The scene with customs, which I don’t think featured in the show
- There’s more immediately ‘after’ the accident, if that’s the scene often replayed that didn’t seem to fit anywhere – Joanna’s crawling around the ground (seemingly in the aftermath of a fire)? I did wonder if she burned the house down… and those who’ve watched it will know what I mean. (I think!)
Any thoughts?
(PS. If you’ve not seen the show or read the book you might want to skip any comments as there may be spoilers.)
February 9, 2019
Ok, I have read the book but only seen the first episiode of the show. My internet is down and I don’t like to stream TV over data. From the book, I can say:
1. Allistair is a manipulator in the book and I hated him. In the first episode of the show, I wanted one of the other passenger to give him a shove while he laid back with his eye mask and ear plugs, looking for all the world like anything other than a father of an infant. He was clever, for sure, but so manipulative an so incredibly selfish. I felt the book really examined the way in which older men can manipulate younger women.
2. The customs scene was important in the book because it gave context for the medication syrups not being in their original packaging which was of course, quite important. I was looking for this scene when I watched the first episode.
3. The fire and the scrabbling about was again important in the book. When are they are first driving from the airport to the cottage, in the book, they drive through ash and smoke, stop, and get out of the car for a bit. The scrabbling about on the ground relates to Joanna’s distress in the weeks after the *ahem* ‘disappearance’. (I’m assuming here the show is following the major plot points of the novel including the twists at the end).
Once I’ve watched the whole mini-series, which may well be in four weeks time the way telstra is responding to this internet outage, I’ll be able to see if there were any other major gaps.
February 9, 2019
Ah yes, when I saw comments about the customs scene in the book I couldn’t remember it from the show. (I rewatched some of the first episode and I’m sure they don’t show it. You see her packing the medicine bottles and on the plane with the other smaller ones.)
I noticed a blurb (somewhere) talked about a ‘young couple’ and actually thought to myself that he didn’t seem that young. She is obviously but there wasn’t much commentary (on screen) re the age difference etc…
Keen to hear what you think when you’ve seen it all! (And good luck with the internet!)
February 9, 2019
In the book their age difference was very apparent. From memory she was mid to late twenties and he in his forties. The generation gap between them cropped up often.
February 10, 2019
Internet came back and I’ve watched it all. Quite close to the book really, some differences though. I can see how the fire scenes appear confusing. They’re not really in any context within the show but they were in the book. The house thing at the very end, with the floor, that was different.
February 10, 2019
Watched the show on Tuesday but haven’t read the book. I quite enjoyed it and like you, thought the acting was tops. I liked that they underplayed a lot. I think Alistair’s character was interesting especially after his ex-wife describes him as manipulative. I had this weird feeling about him from the start and I loved how they portrayed his manipulation so subtly that most people wouldn’t see it and especially if you were in a relationship with him, you wouldn’t. It’s a bit of gaslighting and a lot of entitlement – I think it hit a bit close to home for me {note to self: stop watching/reading stuff with stalkers/manipulative guys!}
February 10, 2019
Ha! Definitely don’t watch YOU on Netflix then Sanch! (Though you may have already. Or read the book.)
March 2, 2019
I really must watch this as I’ve heard good things about it. Thanks for the review!
March 2, 2019
No worries. I hadn’t read the book so was interested to hear what was in the book that wasn’t in the mini-series and I think a few of the things missed might have made the mini series more enjoyable for me.