Sheridan Smith leads the cast of No Return
(Picture: ITV)In a departure from much of ITV’s recent programming, which has been dominated over the past few months by psychological thrillers about women furtively downing goblets of red wine in their massive kitchens as they ponder traumatic secrets from their pasts, No Return is a solid slice of emotionally driven TV drama, which unfolds at pace. At the centre of it is Sheridan Smith, a performer who it’s difficult not to root for, even when she’s playing a woman whose first recourse upon arriving in Turkey for an all-inclusive family holiday is to demand to speak to the manager.
Smith’s Kathy, along with husband Martin (Michael Jibson), their teenage children Noah (Louis Ashbourne Serkis) and Jess (Lily Sutcliffe), as well as younger sister Megan (Sian Brooke) and brother-in-law Steve (David Mumeni), begin their Turkish trip in high spirits (bar the aforementioned phone call to the hotel manager about some perceived oversight in the cleaning), with beach sports and a drunken parental karaoke session on the agenda. There’s something a little bizarre about watching Smith and Jibson, who’ve each won an Olivier for musical theatre performances in Legally Blonde and Hamilton respectively, mug their way tunelessly through All About That Bass, but they seem to be having plenty of fun doing so. Their on-screen kids are understandably less impressed, their faces pictures of adolescent mortification.
When the quiet Noah, who has spent most of the holiday so far diligently reading his GCSE revision notes on a sunlounger, is invited to a beach party by another teenage guest, his family are thrilled that he’s found someone his own age to hang out with. They’re also pretty pleased that she happens to be a girl, prompting a slew of excruciating nudge-nudge comments - “don’t get her pregnant!” - that feel only more queasy in light of what happens next; throughout this first episode, writer Danny Brocklehurst’s script seems to have one eye on the often damaging expectations we place on teenage boys, explicitly or not.
Kathy and Martin are woken up by police officers banging on their hotel room door in the middle of the night, then Noah is dragged out of bed and taken to the local station. The whole episode has the quality of nightmare, one where you’re rendered immobile and helpless as everything falls apart around you. The language barrier means that the couple must wait for an interpreter to learn that their son has been accused of sexual assault and faces a 12 year prison sentence; the legal battle will be drawn out and expensive.
The accusation against Noah comes from another boy at the beach party, and the couple’s initial shock seems to be heightened by this news, which they return to again and again; Martin looks back at comments he previously made to Noah in a different light. These moments are uncomfortable but handled with realism by Brocklehurst, whose characters behave believably in a crisis, their worst traits battling with their best ones. It’s this authenticity that draws you into the family’s plight, and as ever, Smith is a compelling screen presence (though our sympathies are certainly stretched later in the episode when she takes out her anger on a fellow guest) well paired with Jibson.
From this opening episode, which focuses on charting the descent into the holiday from hell, it’s hard to gauge just how the series will tackle the charges against Noah; a story that potentially hinges around a false sexual assault allegation surely needs to be handled carefully to avoid reinforcing damaging myths and stereotypes. Still, from this first instalment, it seems there should be scope for a nuanced and engaging piece from Brocklehurst and co.
