Sammy (PADDY ROWAN) & Joe (BOBBY SCHOFIELD) in Unforgivable. (© BBC/LA Productions Limited/Kerry Spicer)

The BBC’s ‘Devastating’ Film Airs This Week

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Here’s what to expect from Unforgivable

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The BBC’s ‘Devastating’ Film Airs This Week

Sammy (PADDY ROWAN) & Joe (BOBBY SCHOFIELD) in Unforgivable. (© BBC/LA Productions Limited/Kerry Spicer)

A new feature-length TV film is coming to BBC Two this week from the award-winning screenwriter behind Time, Jimmy McGovern. Set and film in Liverpool, Unforgivable explores the ripples of devastation that emanate from the dreadful acts of one member of a sprawling family. Directed by Julia Ford and starring familiar faces from across British television, here’s what you need to know.

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Unforgivable: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Joe (BOBBY SCHOFIELD) in Unforgivable. (© BBC/LA Productions Limited/Kerry Spicer)

What Will Happen?

Unforgivable centres on the Mitchell family, who are still reeling after the dreadful acts of abuse perpetrated by one family member were brought to light two years ago.

But now Joe (Bobby Schofield) is back in Liverpool, having served his prison sentence. He now resides at St Maura’s, an institution offering him a home and rehabilitation until he gets back on his feet. Here, assisted by ex-nun Katherine (Anna Maxwell Martin), he undertakes therapy sessions in the hopes of understanding what led him to commit his terrible crimes – and face up to the consequences.

Anna (ANNA FRIEL) in Unforgivable. (© BBC/LA Productions Limited/Kerry Spicer)

Back home, Joe’s sister Anna (Anna Friel) is struggling to hold the family together, after it was blasted apart by Joe’s crimes. After her husband left and her mother sadly passed away, Anna’s father Brian (David Threlfall) and sons Tom (Austin Haynes) and Peter (Fin McParland) are all struggling to move on.

As star Friel summarises, Anna is ‘fiercely protective’, ‘somewhat stubborn’ and ‘very, very hardworking’, but she is also ‘on the brink and she’s coping the best she can’. As for her brother Joe, Anna ‘makes it very clear that [he is] never going to be forgiven. [He has] destroyed everything,’ Friel says. ‘I think she’s just disgusted.’

Watch the trailer below for an idea of the action.

Series creator Jimmy McGovern describes Joe’s crimes as ‘like a hand grenade going off in the family: everybody gets shattered with shrapnel’. Unforgivable delves into the aftershocks, but also takes a closer look at the psychology of sex offenders. Why do they perpetrate such awful crimes?

‘I’ve always been quick to condemn child abusers, as we all are and as we all should be,’ McGovern says. ‘This is not a film that goes easy on child abusers at all. I wanted the audience to hear a few of the things I’d learned. I think we should be ultra cautious whenever we’re dealing with abusers. I’m a father and a grandfather: I would find it very hard to forgive somebody who had done that to me or my family.’

Joe (BOBBY SCHOFIELD), Katherine (ANNA MAXWELL MARTIN) in Unforgivable. (© BBC/LA Productions Limited/Kerry Spicer)

Is Unforgivable Based On A True Story?

Unforgivable is totally fictional – but it does face up to some difficult questions present in our society. Can sex offenders ever be forgiven? Can we face up to the harrowing reasons behind why they might have offended?

The idea for the film was sparked with a letter series creator McGovern received from a woman who works with sex offenders. ‘She spoke no holds barred about her job and working with sex abusers,’ McGovern recalls. ‘She told me certain facts and figures that are quite unbelievable, so I want people to watch the film and learn things about child abuse. I felt compelled to write about it.’

Spoilers ahead…

Katherine (ANNA MAXWELL MARTIN) in Unforgivable. (© BBC/LA Productions Limited/Kerry Spicer)

When we meet Joe in Unforgivable, he ‘hates himself and blames himself’ for his crimes, McGovern says. Joe is a sex offender; the child he abused is his nephew Tom, son of his sister Anna, who has not spoken beyond the words ‘yes’ or ‘no’ since the incident.

While Anna grapples to hold her family together, Joe thinks ‘it’s not worth opening up to anybody, because people are just going to hate him for what he’s done,’ McGovern says. Of course, Joe’s crimes are, to use the film’s title, unforgivable: ‘It really is an atrocious crime,’ McGovern says. ‘If you do it, you deserve to go to prison and suffer the consequences within the prison.’

But Joe ultimately wants to understand why he did what he did – and that’s why he enrolls in therapy. ‘He then learns at a crucial point in the drama that there could be a reason why he did what he did,’ McGovern says. ‘Because he too was sexually abused.’ Joe blames himself for ripping his family apart, even for the death of his mother who died of an illness soon after his crimes came to light. But now he wants ‘to go after the man who abused him, which he’s never thought of doing,’ McGovern says.

Brian (DAVID THRELFALL) in Unforgivable.

Meet The Cast Of Unforgivable

There are plenty of familiar faces in Unforgivable, including Emmy-winner Anna Friel (Marcella, Pushing Daisies), BAFTA-winners Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland, Until I Kill You, Ludwig) and David Threlfall (Nightsleeper, Shameless, Housewife 49) as well as Bobby Schofield (Time, Anne, SAS Rogue Heroes) and Austin Haynes (Adolescence, All Creatures Great and Small).

The full cast list is as follows: