GRIEF encounters

Julie Graham plays a heartbroken mother who meets a charismatic stranger at bereavement counselling

- VICTORIA WILSON

NEW DRAMA

Penance Tue-Thu, Channel 5 HD, 9 pm

Powerful themes of grief, guilt and forbidden love are explored in Channel 5’s compelling new psychological thriller Penance, running over three nights this week.

The story centres on Rosalie Douglas (Shetland actor Julie Graham), who’s left devastated by the news that her teenage son Rob has drowned while away on holiday in Thailand.

To try to cope with their terrible loss, Rosalie and her daughter Maddie (Tallulah Greive) attend bereavement counselling, where they meet Jed (Our Girl’s Nico Mirallegro), a charming young man who has lost his parents and is struggling with his own grief.

On the surface, Jed appears to be a sensitive soul who just wants to be loved. And when Rosalie sees the positive effect he has on her daughter, she asks him to stay with them. But years of trauma have left their mark on Jed and, as he and Rosalie also become drawn to each other, his dark side emerges.

Graham, 54, tells us more…

What does Rosalie make of Jed when she first meets him at grief counselling?