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Following a couple of weaker episodes, Accused finished strongly with ‘Alison’s Story’. The final episode of the series was tough hour of television that, despite displaying the fundamental weaknesses of this format, was ultimately hard-hitting and powerful.
As with most of the episodes in this series, Naomie Harris gives a towering central performance as a woman forced to sacrifice her home life to support her family, who then finds her life unravelling around her as she makes one mistake and finds her weakness preyed upon by her controlling husband (the equally impressive Warren Brown). In a relatively small role as her other man Ben, former History Boy Andrew Knott really shone and his relationship with Alison offered a few moments of relief in an overwhelmingly dark story.
The unrelentingly dark tone of the episode made for difficult viewing – much of ‘Alison’s Story’ felt almost like a series of vignettes of a marriage falling apart in increasingly dire circumstances. The episode’s gloom knocked up a gear from the moment that David attacked Alison and she was then stopped by the police, who found the planted drugs in her car. David’s complete control over her life from the moment that she was put in prison resulted in an even rougher watch, as her sense of helplessness was masterfully portrayed by Harris. Yet all this groundwork meant that the relief when she was found not guilty was even more intense and welcome, particularly as it was Alison’s intelligence and quick thinking that saved her.
But I realised during this episode just what my fundamental problem with Accused has been. There’s no doubt that it’s been impressive television, posing difficult questions and reflecting different sides of modern society. Yet most of the main characters ended up feeling like vehicles for asking those questions and depicting those sides of society rather than real, fleshed out people. Here, for example, I understood that Alison was a good person because she was shown to have the kind of job that good people on TV have, rather than because I actually felt it was so. Thus I ended up caring more about her fate as a general idea rather than as a character.
‘Alison’s Story’ was a compelling viewing experience, but one that revealed the weaknesses that have been present throughout the series. Accused has been one of the more impressive British programmes on our screens this year, yet I would have to say that it is one that I ultimately admired rather than loved.
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