Thirteen, this Thirteen, is a BBC 5 part mini series about a kidnapped woman who escapes after 13 years in a basement. The series is from 2016 with Jodie Comer in the lead as the kidnapped woman.
Anytime I find something with Jodie Comer, I watch it. Thirteen wasn’t as rewarding as some of her work in terms of story and plot, but her performance as the kidnap victim was definitely top notch.
The series was harrowing in several ways. There was the mystery of finding the perpetrator. There was a the police treatment of Ivy (Jodie Comer) as almost a suspect in her own kidnapping. There was the painful reintegration of Ivy back into her family and her old relationships.
Ivy’s parents (Natasha Little and Stuart Graham) had split up in the 13 years since their 13 year old daughter was kidnapped. Her younger sister Emma (Katherine Rose Morley) was grown up and engaged. When the police brought Ivy back to her childhood home, the parents pretended to still be together to try to help Ivy cope and heal. That plan didn’t work very well.
Her two best friends from when she was 13 years old were Tim (Aneurin Barnard)
Eloise (Eleanor Wyld). She wanted to reunite with them. Tim was now married and Eloise lived in a different town. Their reunions were as fraught as those with her parents and sister.
On top of the trauma of what she had survived, there were a series of cock-ups from the police. The two main detectives who worked Ivy’s case were DS Lisa Merchant (Valene Kane) and DI Elliott Carne (Richard Rankin). They argued constantly about how to handle the case, and how to get the information they needed to find the kidnapper. After Ivy escaped the kidnapper took another child, this one only 10 years old. The police were desperate to find her and the man who took her.
The series was part character study, part mystery, and part examination of what trauma does to women. It was a suspenseful nail-biter. Vanessa Caswill and China Moo-Young did all the directing.
You can see the series on Peacock (which means lots of ads . . . sigh). If you watch it I’d love to hear your thoughts. The comments are open.
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