Thirteen (BBC-3 2016, Jodie Comer, Richard Rankin)

5 part thriller Thirteen, was BBC Three’s first online drama, written by rising star Marnie Dickens.

After 13 years held captive by her kidnapper, today is the day Ivy Moxam escapes. Her family have stopped waiting by the phone, stopped flyering, one of them has even given up hope altogether. Suddenly here’s Ivy, flesh and blood, returned to them. But piecing back together the version of family life that existed before is no easy task…

Ivy is the only one who knows her kidnapper, who understands him, who can help DI Carne and DS Merchant snare him. Leads run cold and the kidnapper evades capture, the police begin to suspect Ivy is not telling them the whole truth. As she fights to retain her sanity, she begins to hear the whispers that surround her. The doubts beginning to form. The anomalies of her statement. The errors. The outright lies. What happened in that cellar? Where is her kidnapper? Can Ivy really be trusted?

Written by young rising star Marnie Dickens, Thirteen explores how to pick up the threads of a life half-lived and how to survive as a family under the greatest pressure. How to feel again, chance love again. A psychological drama about who to trust when you can’t even trust yourself. Ivy Moxam is a young girl. Ivy Moxam is a woman. Ivy Moxam is whoever you want her to be.

Plot wise the second season of BBC One drama The Missing owes an awful lot to this production.

cast
Jodie Comer as Ivy Moxam
Valene Kane as DS Lisa Merchant
Richard Rankin as DI Elliott Carne
Natasha Little as Christina Moxam
Stuart Graham as Angus Moxam
Katherine Rose Morley as Emma Moxam
Aneurin Barnard as Tim Hobson
Mark Flitton as DC Jim Conroy
Kemi-Bo Jacobs as Yazz Hobson
Eleanor Wyld as Eloise Wye
Peter McDonald as Mark White
Ariyon Bakare as Chief Supt David Burridge
Joe Layton as Craig Watts
Nicholas Farrell as Henry Stone
Charles Babalola as DS Jesse Rawlins
Ceri Murphy as Corbin Thomas
Melina Matthews as Sofía Marín
Chipo Chung as Alia Symes
Alun Raglan as Robert Tarl
Suzette Llewellyn as Angela Hill
Joanna Hole as Dr. Erica Young
Colin Mace as DS Harold Winters

crew details
Writer: Marnie Dickens
Directors: Vanessa Caswill, China Moo-Young
Music: Jon Opstad
Production Design: Andrew Purcell

production details
Country: UK
Network and Production Companies: BBC Three – BBC Drama Productions
Duration: 5×60 minute episodes
Aired From: March 2016