Review of Single Father

We are shown a comfortable middle class family, a few irritations evident in the relationships and some troubling indication in connection with the wife's attitude to honesty about contraception. The family's essential peace ends when she is suddenly and shockingly killed in a road accident. What ensues is, IMO, a realistic and largely credible portrayal of a father who is obliged to take on a role which he had not been expecting. David Tennant rises as always magnificently to this challenge, giving us as sense of the grief, anger, bewilderment and awkwardness following the loss of the love of his life. The young Scottish actors playing the children are without exception marvellously natural and accomplished, without any of that cloying, over-trained staginess that poisons the performances of too many child actors. The passage of time could have been better delineated in the story, as I often wanted there to be more sense of lingering grief and confusion in certain scenes and relationships, but I had to assume that time had indeed moved on, and emotions had too. Portraying the dad, Tennant is, without exaggeration, absolutely perfect and he and the children have a convincing and affecting relationship. The supporting cast of relatives, friends and others is exceptional and their stories are all relevant and credible. With the wife's friend, played by Suranne Jones, we see him clinging to her in the excess of their shared grief but, of course, dramatically, they have to get together as a romantic pair. I have no trouble with this. I also have no real concern that it happens a bit too soon following the death of his wife: who of us should feel so free to judge another's heart and state of mind? What sticks into my craw though, big time, is the revelation that the lover decided to get herself pregnant by him, without his knowledge. And he is all right with that!! What a woeful message to send the viewing public, especially the naive or irresponsible members of it. I bought the plot up to that point but that final scene disappointed me greatly. Would a female script writer with any sense at all have provided such an ending, for a major female character? I like to think not.