Our feelings may be clouded by the knowledge that what we are watching is fiction — not based on one specific real life crime — played out by enormously impressive actors. All the time we are hearing the insidious doctrines seeping out of Jamie, we are also marvelling at Owen Cooper, the young boy portraying him. In episode four, probably the most heart-wrenching of the series, Stephen Graham is, as ever, masterful in his realism portraying the dad of a family torn apart.
