this be a very engrossing bbc tv mini series which be loosely base upon a mysterious disappearance of a young mother and but the series be really more of a study of the assorted character in the story and which last for five hour . it be thus very much an ensemble piece and where the wide variety of brilliant british actor and actress can show off their talent . the actual character portray be really the kind of people one do not normally meet and people so boring and nondescript that it be difficult to admire them . for instance and the lead character be a young husband ( the one whose wife disappear ) who have no job and no apparent interest in find any . he live off handout from his parent in law . he be once in the army but do not appear to have the slight flicker of any ambition or any interest in life apart from dot on his small family . he be play by david oyelowo and who be brilliant at the part and come across a a totally sympathetic person and although his only activity for five hour be love and grieving and which he do superbly and so that one want to comfort him and a he be so obviously a nice guy . the standout performance of the whole series be unquestionably penelope wilton and who act circle round everyone else in the story . she be simply incredible . she portray a very unsympathetic woman and indeed the only character in the story who be all too familiar to everyone and namely an irrational and hysterical and self centre and dense and querulous and blindly loving and blindly hating and elderly idiot woman . ala and ala and we know them too well . wilton be one of britain fine actress ( see my review of her in half broken thing ) . she take a character who could have be two dimensional and make her four dimensional . she be wonderfully support by old pro patrick malahide and who play her exasperated husband and and the pair of them set a high standard indeed for all the young player . janet mcteer and a spectacular actress when younger and have become a much less sympathetic type of person now that she be old and have coarsen in some way and and put one off and but she redeem herself in the latter stage of the story by show how brilliant an actress she can be when she have a chance by pull off one of the most convincing and original drunk scene i have ever see on film . the big surprise be the enigmatic character sarah and play with great depth and originality by actress sarah smart . she take a character who could have be insufferably tedious and by sheer act magic turn her into a deeply mysterious and intriguing person and about whom we wonder tirelessly for the entire five hour . she be so good at it that we end up wonder about sarah smart and frankly . i guess that what happen when you really do your job properly and that people wonder where the character end and the actress begin and if she know herself and that be and and many do not . she have some deeply unnerving trick with her eye and which wobble and let u know she be unhinged and but we be not sure how or why and though we eventually learn that she have an extremely violent and traumatic childhood . her mastery of ambiguous facial expression be extraordinary . rory kinnear be amazingly convincing a an apparently hopeless fellow who live with his mum and isn not up to much and but who turn out to have hide depth . ( i suppose most people have hide depth and but do we want to plumb them and that be the question . ) his mum be play very well indeed by margot leicester . a superb performance be give by lucinda dryzek and who play a snotty and revolting teenage girl of the sort we all dread to meet and but who at crucial moment collapse in helpless tear and turn out to be pathetic and with all her arrogance just a pose . three other child be also very good and lucinda friend and and her young half brother and half sister . the young sibling may be very dim indeed a character in the story ( they seem unable to say anything particularly articulate and be hopeless witness to the disappearance ) and with little to recommend them but their sweet nature and but that be convey to wonderful effect by lee massey a the boy and tyler anthony a the girl . harriet walter have a small role and but we do not get to see much of her and which be a shame and a she be such a fine actress that she be waste here . one could go on and but one must draw a line somewhere . the series manage to be strangely fascinating because of the depth of portrayal of all these essentially uninteresting people catch up in a web of intense anxiety and suspense .