Drive will leave you exhausted

Those used to Anna Maxwell Martin as vain, chaotic and sometimes feckless Julia may be in for a shock with ITV’s latest fourpart drama.

In streaming on TVNZ OnDemand), she plays cafe owner Theresa, a seemingly permanently stressed mother whose fears go into overdrive when her son Ben (Fraser Holmes) and his cousin Eva (Amelie Bea Smith) are overdue from a pre-dinner trip to the local park.

Calls to his cellphone go answered and a frantic drive around the neighbourhood only ends when she finds them at the entrance to the woods – acting furtive and seemingly dumping something into a rubbish bin.

Polite inquiries result in vehement denials, so she decides to let him stew – until the mother (Jodie McNee) of Alex, one of Ben’s schoolmates, shows up. Her

(now 10-year-old has gone missing, and a desperate search begins that also includes Eva’s mother and Theresa’s sister

Helen (Rachael Stirling), the school’s headmaster.

Tensions rise as the initial scout proves fruitless.

Theresa’s recently arrived brother-in-law (Ken Nwosu) is not helping by suggesting their private, insular surrounds provide the perfect backdrop for a paedophile to thrive (a claim inadvertently given extra credence by Helen’s pronouncement that the area boasts 12 registered sex offenders).

The next morning, Theresa and her husband, Fraser (Rhashan Stone), ingratiate themselves with Alex’s vegetarian parents by offering up strained offers of support and barbecue leftovers.

However, it is also a day of revelations, as Theresa’s continued concerns about Ben lead to her sharing long-held secrets about her own traumatic past and Helen can’t resist returning to an ongoing indiscretion – even during a community crisis.

There’s nothing particularly subtle or exactly original about this latest project from Sophie Petzel (of 2018 Irish crime drama

But among the

complicated character dynamics and problematic progeny akin to those depicted in Maxwell Martin and Stirling

in particular, sell their seemingly strained sisterly bond with enough intrigue and adroitness to make at least worth a look.

Viewers could be forgiven for feeling a little exhausted, even by the end of episode one, thanks to the number of potentially meaty subplots that Petzel and director Carolina Giammetta cram into a shade under 50 minutes.

To be fair, it’s never overplayed. There’s a naturalism surrounding all the ‘‘shocks’’ that means this never feels like it’s descending into melodrama, even as the confessions and clandestine ‘‘encounters’’ pile up.