Family turmoil, a nearly-dead body and some next-level single white female exploits made for a brilliantly intense crime thriller this week.
Flesh and Blood on ITV is the perfect yarn to escape from the real world of 90s movie-esque killer viruses and chaotic weather.
First of all, it stars Francesca Annis as matriarch Vivien, a woman so wonderfully Hollywood glamour that I was completely distracted by how fabulous her hair looked for the entire four hours.
Then, as if it couldn’t get any better, the legend that is Imelda Staunton was nosy neighbour Mary.
Except that she wasn’t just nosy, was she? No, we knew there was something about Mary.
She was the obsessive, murderous villain of the piece, who ultimately clamped her hand over the mouth and nose of Vivien’s new husband Mark, played by Stephen Rea, as we all gasped in horror.
Sure, he’d already fallen off the balcony after a drunken fight with Vivien’s son Jake, played by Russell Tovey. But Mary, resplendent in her twee floral dress, put the final boot in.
It wasn’t a complete surprise that Mary turned out to be sinister as hell. Steaming open Vivien’s mail, wearing her clothes, swiping Viagra, nosing around their home and with binoculars always close by, she all but boiled the pet bunny.
“I did everything I could,” she muttered to detectives at the end.
Yes, everything she could to put herself firmly back in place as head cook and
bottle washer, mother-in-waiting and someone who was needed.
You’d feel quite sorry for her if it wasn’t for the small matter of a man in a coma.
I say coma, in the final scene, Mark’s eyes snapped open, giving everyone a coronary. A clever twist, this means the show could be left alone, but probably has “second series” written all over it.
I’d happily just watch Vivien and Mary in some kind of creepy version of hit comedy, Grace and Frankie.
But with so many gripping plot lines and a glorious cast, there’s more to explore.
Is Mark really a good guy, now we know his daughter exists? Will Jake continue his special brand of extremely personal training?
Will Natalie, played by Lydia Leonard, shack up in a mansion with her lover and their baby?
Will George finally convince wife Helen, played by Claudie Blakley, to listen to his tales of rewiring the house?
And will Vivien continue to hold it together or will we next see her gorging a tub of Ben & Jerry’s, greasy hair scraped back, wearing… whisper it… a tracksuit? God forbid.
“I’ll be there for her. It will just be the two of us,” said Mary. Oh, but we’ll be there too, Mary…
