In this riveting yet understated drama, James Norton (Happy Valley) and Niamh Algar (The Virtues) play married couple Pete and Maddie Riley, living alongside the blustery Cornwall seaside. They’re a little strapped for cash – Pete gave up his job in journalism to look after their son Theo, who is nearly three, while chef Maddie focused on setting up her own restaurant – but they’re happy enough. Until the unthinkable happens and they are called into the hospital to be told that Theo isn’t their biological child. He had been swapped at birth.
James Norton as Pete (Photo: Joss Barratt/ITV)
It’s not long until that question is answered and a stranger knocks on their door and introduces himself to Pete as “the other dad”. Miles Lambert (a fantastically slippery James McArdle) is nice enough and tells the Rileys that he and his wife, Lucy (Jessica Brown Findlay) want to get to know Theo – and for them to get to know their son, David.
James Norton: 'You learn more about yourself when you're not playing the villain'
Read MorePlaying Nice asks us to take sides and – as the underdogs – it’s hard not to feel more sorry for the Rileys than the Lamberts, despite them being in the same predicament. It doesn’t help that Miles starts to act increasingly strange, turning up at Pete and Maddie’s door unannounced, buying a bike for Theo, pressuring them to go on holiday together.
James McArdle as Miles and Jessica Brown Findlay as Lucy (Photo: ITV/Joss Barratt)
Playing Nice is a slow-burn emotional drama that doesn’t rely on pulling the wool over our eyes – that closing twist wasn’t really a surprise, given Miles’s burgeoning creepiness and Maddie’s obvious unease with the Lambert’s apparent graciousness. That it all plays out with such subtlety is down to the excellent performances, particularly from Algar and McArdle, whose true feelings are always just about to spill over and pop the bubble of false niceness both couples have created.
‘Playing Nice’ continues tomorrow at 9pm on ITV1
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Playing Nice will strike fear into the heart of any parent )
Also on site :
- Martial Arts Star Johnny Tri Nguyen To Headline Vietnamese Historical Epic ‘The Last Secret Of The First Emperor’
- Suspect in armed carjacking arrested after barricading himself in stolen car in Live Oak
- Ukraine-Russia war latest: US says peace breakthrough unlikely as Putin and Zelensky skip Turkey talks