The Fallen Curtain

Richard Brazier was abducted when he was eight years old, and he has a mental block about it. As an adult he is haunted by what may or may not have happened, caught between the memory he can't reach and the one he can't escape. The Fallen Curtain is a character study built on that fault line, the fragile border between what really happened and what his mind has buried or reshaped.

The story works through the aftermath of that childhood night. People give accounts years after the fact, and no one's version quite holds together. Investigators and family alike have to weigh what they are told against what they suspect. But there is no chase here; the tension builds slowly, and most of the unease comes from knowing that Richard's memory can't be trusted, including by Richard himself. Every new detail only raises fresh doubts.

Douglas Livingstone and Ruth Rendell wrote the script, with Matthew Evans directing. Max Brazier plays Richard, the central figure burdened by the gap in his memory. He is supported by Gregg Prentice as Johnny, Barbara Ewing as Jean Clayton and David Daker as Stanley Clayton, with Edna Doré as Gran. The police side is covered by Clare Matthews as WPC Givens, Carl Ferguson as PC Murray and Ian Puleston-Davies as PC Carter, while Martino Lazzeri as Kevin and Laura Sadler as Brenda fill out the edges of the story. It is a cast of familiar faces doing quiet, careful work.

The episode keeps a careful pace and stays close to its central character, favouring psychology over action. The real antagonist is memory itself, unreliable and unreachable. The hardest work in the piece is piecing together a coherent life from fragments of recollection, and the show leaves you wondering whether that can ever be done. It's an uncomfortable question, and the episode is in no hurry to answer it.