[ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1563414/ITV-criticised-over-Madeleine-McCann-drama.html] ] because of its similarities to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the UK toddler abducted whilst on a family holiday in Portugal. ITV has denied any connection between the two, instead insisting it had been inspired by recent cases in the United States, and had been both written and filmed prior to Madeleine's disappearance in May 2007. ]Plot
Episode One
The series begins in 1996 with a married couple, Sarah (Holly Aird) and David (Adam Kotz) Hooper going to a beach with their young children Alice (Jo Woodcock), Jasmine (Emma Natasha Miles) and Sean (Owen Donovan). After some time four year old Alice is left alone and vanishes when her father goes to get ice cream and her mother fails to hear his cries to watch her and presumes she is still with him. A frantic search fails to yield any results, and Alice is presumed dead by drowning and is remembered through commemoration plaque.
The series cuts forward eleven years with Sarah refusing to believe her daughter is dead. Whilst in a shopping mall she sees a girl who is remarkably similar in appearance to Alice, and faints with shock and later finds her husband maintains that Alice is dead. Sarah returns to the mall, and after several hours of waiting finds the girl again and follows her to her house on an estate. The following day Sarah returns to the estate where she confronts the girl and her step father Stephen Turner (Bradley Walsh), and after a physical altercation is arrested. She receives a warning on the premise she does not approach the girl again.
Sarah, however, is determined that the girl (now revealed to be called Lori) is Alice, and the depth of her belief appeals to D.S. Sally Bridges (Poppy Miller) who takes up the cases. She visits the Turner's household where she sees photos allegedly of Lori as a baby and, on the way out, meets Lori and her mother Joanne Taylor (Nicola Walker) who reveals she has finally relented and let her daughter get a tattoo on her upper right arm. Thinking this overcompensation for the "ordeal" Bridges asks Sarah if Alice had any distinguishing marks and is told she had a small birthmark on her left arm. With this information Bridges returns to the Turner/Taylor home and requests a birth certificate and, after to failing to provide one, Joanne breaks down revealing she kidnapped Alice after becoming depressed after finding that she is not able to have her own children.
Episode Two
A distraught Joanne is charged, however Lori/Alice chooses to return to her home with David and is allowed to under the belief she is over the age of 16. Sarah counters that she is only fourteen, and Lori/Alice is taken from her aggravated stepfather and placed in a foster home. Against the wishes of Sarah, who wishes her daughter to move in immediately, social services want to integrate her into the new family over time, and ask the mother to prepare a photo album. In viewing the album Alice begins to remember her former life, and after an emotional confrontation with Joanne in custody storms out refusing to accept her apology.
As Joanne's trial approaches she is visited by Sarah and makes a plea for her to protest against her going to prison, Sarah refuses revealing to her husband that she wants the woman to feel as much pain she went through for the last 11 years. However, the judge takes into account Joanne's depression and the loving relationship she had with Alice, and hands down a five year suspended sentence on the prevision that Joanne cuts all ties with Alice. Sarah is horrified, as she feels Joanne has gotten away with her crimes and will attempt to kidnap Alice again.
Following the trial tensions run high in the Hooper household, with David beginning an affair with his secretary and Jasmine feeling her position as the original sole daughter is threatened. Sarah, however, tries to help Alice cope with the change, suggesting she retake the GCSE on account of her false age and throwing a fifteenth birthday party for her. At this, Alice's boyfriend passes her a card from Joanne which Sarah finds, compounding her fears. The events spiral out of control when Jasmine overdoses on drugs and is admitted into hospital. There, Alice overhears Sarah and David conversing about the problems which have emerged since she joined the family and, incorrectly believing they were blaming her, runs away. When she is discovered missing a frantic search begins, culminating in the discovery of Joanne's body at the bottom of her apartments and, as suspicion is cast over the events surrounding her death, Sarah, the last person to see her alive, finds herself named a suspect.
Episode Three
Details emerge over Joanne's death and it is revealed she died due to a blow to the back of her neck and was thrown from the apartments posthumously. Alice (who was found at the beach where she was kidnapped), David, Sarah and Stephen are interviewed over the incident, and the police discover that Sarah lied about her whereabouts when she changes her story in custody. She is subsequently arrested and, since David has not produced a verifiable story and is still a suspect, social services decide to place their children in foster care. Faced with the situation David reveals to D.S. Bridges that he was having an affair with a female colleague at the time of Joanne's death, and is released and allowed to retain custody of his children.
Sarah remains in prison for some time, however eventually Stephen confesses the circumstances behind his wife's death. Joanne had told Stephen that she was planning on phoning Lori/Alice and telling her that they loved her but wouldn't be seeing her again. Stephen was against the idea and tried to stop her ringing, but as she got up to talk into another room he accidentally pushed her into a table, killing her instantly. He reveals he stayed with her body until after dark and then pushed it from the balcony to feign the image of suicide.
Sarah is released and, on the car ride home, David admits his affair but maintains they were not romantically involved. Three months later the family return to the beach where the epic began and, in a final act of forgiveness, change the name on the plaque from Alice to Joanne.
References
*http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1563414/ITV-criticised-over-Madeleine-McCann-drama.html
External links
*itv.com|id=torn|title="Torn"
