Perfect Parents

When the family man and mechanic Stuart (Christopher Eccleston) finds that his beloved only daughter Lucy (Maddy Garrood) was beaten and humiliated by her schoolmates in a public school, he decides to take Lucy out of the school and give home schooling to her with his wife Alison (Susannah Harker). Then they seek another public school since they can not afford to give a private education for Lucy, but all the places are worse than her original school. When they find the wonderful Catholic School St. Mary of the Veil, they prepare the application of their daughter. However, due to the high demand, one of the basic conditions to be accepted is being Catholic but Stuart and Alison are atheists. Stuart meets the smalltime crook Ed (Brendan Coyle) that charges an amount to provide the necessary documentation proving that Stuart, Alison and Lucy are Catholics including the testimony of Father Thomas (David Warner). Lucy is accepted St. Mary of the Veil, but the life of her family changes when Father Thomas is killed and Ed blackmails Stuart, while the mother of a rejected applicant does not believe that Lucy and her family are Catholics.

"Perfect Parents" is a surprisingly good and original movie. The story about parenthood, religion, competition and education has a simple beginning with a family pretending to be Catholic to get a better education for the young daughter. However, the simple lie complicates in a big twist, with murder, blackmail and greedy. With the exception of Lucy and Emma that are pure girls, all the characters are amoral and have serious deviation of behavior. Stuart is cynical and together his wife, they corrupt a priest, use false documentation and lie to get the aimed spot in the school. Ed is simply a scum. Jane is a woman that claims to be a religious and faithful Christian, but eagerly seeks a spot for her daughter, and does not show sympathy of mercy with Lucy. Father Thomas is a former pedophile and corruptible to afford to pay the blackmailer. Sister Antonia in the end shows that is a fair woman. The acting is excellent and gives credibility to the plot, and it was great to see the great David Warner again. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Segredo – Pecado em Família" ("The Secret – Sin in Family")

I saw this tonight on ITV1 and loved the story, the acting and the production. Chris Eccleston- always a good, solid actor- was particularly good in this playing the father of a young girl who wants to get her into a good school after a tragic incident at her previous school. The parents have to pretend to be Catholic to get the girl into a prestigious school and all seems well but-this being a thriller- you know things can only go very, very wrong. It was a pure cut-above most TV dramas in that it had an original, cracking script with a good quality cast; Eccleston, David Warner, Lesley Manville and Susannah Harker being the leads. I was enthralled by each new plot twist and the great plot pitting the almost Atheist parents against the good (and bad) aspects of the Catholic church. And the deception has you, weirdly, rooting for them as they have done what they've done for love. Only actors you like can bring this to roles this good. David Warner is a good actor and he brought conflicting aspects to his priest character. An initially warm priest he conveys it well until a revelation about him makes you reconsider how you feel about him. Totally. Highly needed repeat showings in future ITV so more people can see this. This was so good it could have been a film. There's so many rubbish ITV1 thrillers and dramas but this was much better.

I personally could have done without the thriller part. To me the best parts of the show dealt with the daughter Lucy's religious awakening. Particularly the last scene of the movie. I could see a sequel (or ongoing series) highlighting the increasing conflict between the devout daughter and her atheist father.

You could do a show every Christmas ending in a show where the daughter decides to become a nun or missionary (perhaps in a very dangerous part of the world). There is lots of material for in between episodes also with all the issues there are in the world for a devout girl to reconcile her faith with.

A couple take drastic action to get their young daughter out of her failing School, and into a prestigious Catholic School, the issue, they're not Catholic.

This is a wonderfully unique, intelligent, and thougjt provoking thriller. The first forty five minutes are almost jovial, it's an interesting watch, however at the halfway point things change massively, it becomes very gritty, it's a real rollercoaster, you'll have no idea what's coming next.

Are things all thst different years on? Am not too sure.

The acting is awesome, Christopher Eccleston ateals the show, but he is supported by a wonderful cast, David Warner and Brendan Coyle also impress.

Loved it, 9/10.

What is happening to ITV Drama. First, "Losing Gemma" quite simply the worst TV drama I have seen in years, and now "Perfect Parents" a complete shambles from start to finish. Whoever is responsible for commissioning this drivel should be receiving there P45 by special delivery.

In most Drama/Thrillers, a requirement to suspend certain levels of belief is necessary so that the the plot line can develop, but "Perfect Parents" took this to a new level,I suspended so much belief by the end of this nonsense I felt I had been force fed on a lorry load of "Magic mushrooms", it was like the scriptwriters had decided to try and create a "Drama by numbers" involving some serious issues - Religion, Education,Greed,Fear,Murder,Paedophillia the only trouble was as The great Eric Morecambe once said when playing a piano, "I'm playing all the right Notes, just not necessarily in the correct order". For your next Script guys, I suggest you try reading a few more books on script development than "Script writing For Dummies".

Due to the ridiculous Script and the utter lack of Tension in the Direction, the acting was suitably low key, not the fault of the actors as the cast was top notch. But I suggest that all of the actors involved in this sorry piece of drama should instruct their agents the next time the Postman attempts to deliver a script from ITV drama Department, make sure the letterbox is firmly nailed shut!!