Responsible Child

I was left sobbing and in bits. Billy Barrett is a true actor with a bright future.

A tragic story so brilliantly told.

One of those dramas where you feel that rating it good and saying what you liked about it makes you feel inappropriate.

For such production and the story it's based on, there is no other way to do it best than make it as raw as could be. Everything seems so trivial - I mean cast, dialogues, scenes, yet it is the whole clue - to make you feel that such tragedy can happen any time. Emotional impact is clearly based on viewer's sensitivity and it got me completely. The only thing I was missing was just few closing conslusions, that human extreme emotions are way above justice being served basing mostly on words and other people's points of view. Nobody can even imagine how would he act while being in other's shoes, because person who judges, and exact same person who would be put in the same situation, are actually two totally different people.

An American viewer here. I didn't know much about the "crown" system and how children this young could be tried as adults in the UK. I had read that the lead actor playing Ray, Billy Barratt, won an International Emmy for Best Actor for this role and I figured that they didn't give those out to just anyone. I'd say that he earned it.

It was heartbreaking throughout. You can tell he was doing more than repeating learned lines. There seemed to be a building tension of Ray being overwhelmed from not knowing what was going to happen next and being separated from his brother. A few scenes broke me for a bit. I don't know how much of this was fictionalized and how much really happened. It made me wonder if the actor needed a few therapy sessions afterwards.

Made for TV films in my country are usually terrible, so it is indeed the only one I'd recommend.

A thought provoking, moving, deep and heartbreaking show from the BBC. Really nicely done. Sad state of reality about the criminal justice system in this country.

This is not an easy watch but it is well worth the effort. I caught it by chance, in BBC IPlayer. Billy Barrett is already a terrific young actor, and rightly steals the limelight from the more experienced cast. A terrific BBC production.