There’s never been a TV drama lead quite like Matthew Gurney’s Daniel Brennan before. He’s a big man with a withering stare, wild eyes and an air of volatility. For much of BBC One’s Reunion, he’s an ambiguous figure: is he a hero? An anti-hero? Or simply a villain? As we meet him, he’s emerging from a decade in prison – but even in his exit interview, the world is conspiring against him. Daniel is deaf, but his probation officer has neglected to book a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter, so the conversation plays out as an agitated series of hopeless gestures. The official pointlessly and patronisingly carries on regardless. No part of this process is really designed for Daniel’s benefit – it’s just a box to tick.
This failure of communication signposts the dominant note of this drama. Reunion is, in many ways, a groundbreaking show: set in Sheffield, it’s written by deaf scriptwriter William Mager and many of the production team are also deaf. This has clearly created an environment reflecting deaf people’s experience of living in a world that doesn’t respond to their needs. Daniel is returning to a community where he is a pariah – he was convicted of murdering his hugely popular former friend and sometime mentor Ray (Ace Mahbaz) – but will he be given the opportunity to reconnect with his daughter Carly (Lara Peake) and explain the context of his crime? Indeed, is there any imaginable context in which it could be justifiable?
