It's Unthinkable For Any Parent…

Father-of-two Benedict Cumberbatch on playing a dad left distraught after his young daughter disappears…

- Rebecca Mahoney

NEW DRAMA

The Child in Time

SUNDAY / BBC1 / 9.00PM

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: One moment your child is beside you in the supermarket; the next, they’ve vanished.

As you frantically search the aisles, desperately calling out your child’s name, your chest begins to tighten and sheer terror sets in…

Benedict Cumber batch brings that very ordeal to life this week in a disturbing and moving BBC1 adaptation of Ian McEwan’s 1987 novel The Child in Time.

The 90-minute drama sees the Sherlock star play children’s author Stephen Lewis, whose four-year old daughter, Kate, disappears after he takes his eyes off her for a split second during a shopping trip.

In the terrifying minutes, hours and years that follow, Stephen becomes consumed by grief and guilt, while his relationship with his wife, Julie (Kelly Macdonald), breaks down spectacularly.

It’s a harrowing depiction of love, loss and fear of the unknown, as Stephen and Julie embark upon separate paths of learning how to live without their daughter.

Here, father-of-two Benedict, 41, tells us what a tough role this was to take on, and why we’ll see more of his real self in this drama…

This is a devastating story; how does Kate’s disappearance affect her parents?