10/11

He attacked her before escaping capture

Story

Delia Balmer, a nurse at the agency, met Sweeney, who confessed to killing his ex-girlfriend.

Based on a true crime case

Balmer rebuilt her life to confront Sweeney seven years later, after he was arrested for another murder.

The bodies were dumped in the canals of Rotterdam (not Amsterdam) and London

Not only is this a gripping and uncomfortable drama, almost unique in not trying to exploit misogynistic violence for entertainment, but also an indictment of a justice system in which everyone is implicated is clearly compromised by seeing the victim as a means to an end in terms of career.

The viewer is also forced to confront their own expectations of a victim of a real crime

The police want a conviction and the criminal is the target and the victim is simply the weapon that allows them to achieve this goal; a passive figure best forgotten afterwards unless they become useful again.

Delia Balmer/Anna Maxwell Martin does not bend to this convention and the drama without syrup is all the better to present a fully rounded victim

They are usually vulnerable and rather passive individuals, lacking in confidence and often conventionally attractive because film and television producers try to manipulate the empathy of their audiences with all the means at their disposal.