--- title: "The Moorside" year: 2017 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/the-moorside" fi1m_id: "the-moorside" imdb_id: "tt5327216" tmdb_id: 70139 wikidata_id: "Q28753423" fi1m_score: 80 critics_reviews: 3 published: "2026-10-07T18:08:24.746139+00:00" updated: "2026-10-07T18:08:25.167377+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Moorside (2017) Created by Neil McKay · 58m · Drama ## Identity The Moorside - **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/the-moorside - **Type:** Series - **Fi1m ID:** the-moorside - **IMDb ID:** tt5327216 - **TMDB ID:** 70139 - **Wikidata ID:** Q28753423 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5327216/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/70139, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28753423 **Fi1m score: 80** · Critics: 3 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* Sheridan Smith makes kindness look like something that requires considerable stamina > Sheridan Smith gives this humane two-part drama its strength, with Gemma Whelan making Karen Matthews difficult to dismiss. We recommend it for the performances, though its determination to encourage understanding occasionally becomes too insistent. ## Synopsis Julie Bushby (Sheridan Smith) stands at the centre of this two-part drama about kindness and the difficulty of understanding another person. Alongside her is Karen Matthews (Gemma Whelan), whose motives demand closer attention than an easy judgement allows. Natalie Brown (Siân Brooke) also features, with Siobhan Finneran as DC Christine Freeman and Steve Oram as DC Alex Grummit. Written by Neil McKay and directed by Paul Whittington, the series approaches its characters through their relationships, asking how sympathy survives when people become difficult to understand. ## Review *The Moorside* is a good, humane drama with an unusually firm grasp of how much effort kindness can take. Written by Neil McKay and directed by Paul Whittington, it asks us to pay attention to people we might otherwise judge quickly. That is a worthwhile ambition, and the performances make it worth our time. Its weakness is an occasional eagerness to make sure we recognise that ambition, when the actors have already done enough. Sheridan Smith, as Julie Bushby, is the strongest reason to watch. Her performance makes concern for other people feel demanding, sometimes exhausting, and entirely credible. We were moved by her Julie because the kindness comes with such force of personality; there is nothing comfortably saintly about it. Smith allows us to admire this woman without asking us to find her agreeable at every moment. It is a generous performance with enough friction to keep it interesting. Gemma Whelan has a different difficulty as Karen Matthews: making someone intelligible without making our judgement for us. She gives the character enough complexity that a simple label starts to feel inadequate. McKay’s attention to Karen’s motives helps, although this is also where the writing can press its case too firmly. We sometimes wanted less guidance about how to understand her. Whelan is capable of sustaining that uncertainty without the drama doing quite so much to assist. Whittington’s direction is most persuasive in its trust in those performances. This is the kind of television drama in which an emphatic style could easily make the people seem smaller, and his approach keeps the emphasis where it belongs. Ben Yeates’s editing deserves consideration on the same terms: the important measure is whether we remain engaged with the characters, and we do. Across two episodes, the concentration is welcome, even when the emotional emphasis feels a little too carefully managed. Susie Cullen’s production design and the music credited to Badly Drawn Boy belong to a drama whose strongest impression remains its acting. Neither supplies a stronger reason to watch than Smith and Whelan, which seems a fair order of priorities here. Tudor George’s costume design is similarly secondary to the people wearing the clothes. These contributions support a convincing whole, though the programme is less distinctive in its surroundings and musical character than in its central performances. Against the standards of social drama, its chief virtue is taking compassion seriously without treating everybody as harmless. Its limitation is that the wish to be humane can become another way of directing our response. Most of the time, McKay and Whittington avoid that trap by allowing the actors sufficient complexity. The result is positive without becoming cosy, and troubling without treating its characters as objects of contempt. There is enough judgement here to stop sympathy becoming an automatic response, and enough sympathy to make judgement uncomfortable. That balance is not maintained perfectly, but the lapses do not undo the performances. Watch it for Smith and Whelan, and allow yourself to remain less certain about the people they play than the writing occasionally seems to require. *Fi1m score 80, published 7 October 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is The Moorside worth watching?** *The Moorside* is worth watching for its humane approach and strong central performances, and we score it 80 out of 100. We recommend this two-part drama for Sheridan Smith’s demanding, unsaintly kindness and Gemma Whelan’s complexity, though the writing sometimes presses us too firmly towards understanding its characters. **How long is The Moorside, and what is it rated?** *The Moorside* has episodes of about 58m. It is a drama series. **Where can I watch The Moorside in the US?** *The Moorside* is streaming on BritBox, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV in the US. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is The Moorside, and is it suitable for children?** *The Moorside* carries a UK 15 certificate, making it unsuitable for children under 15. That classification is the clearest guide here: we cannot give a specific warning about violence or frightening scenes from the material described, though we find the drama emotionally troubling rather than cosy. **How does The Moorside compare to The Arbor?** *The Moorside* is the stronger choice for performance-led social drama, while we recommend [*The Arbor*](https://film.one/film/the-arbor) for a more formally adventurous approach to family and testimony. The former sometimes pushes its sympathetic reading too firmly; the latter uses recorded voices and lip-synched performances to explore conflicting memories, though its staging can distract from what people say. **What should I watch after The Moorside?** After *The Moorside*, try [*The Arbor*](https://film.one/film/the-arbor) (2010, Fi1m 83): A more formally adventurous encounter with testimony, family and a Yorkshire estate. Then [*A Separation*](https://film.one/film/a-separation) (2011, Fi1m 93): Competing loyalties make easy judgements increasingly difficult in this Iranian family drama. ### Reviews we read (3) - **Radio Times**, Ellie Harrison (80/100, inferred): Harrison presents the drama as a gritty, captivating success. She singles out its raw, evocative study of kindness and Sheridan Smith’s performance. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/the-moorside-review-a-gritty-captivating-tour-de-force-from-sheridan-smith/) - **The i Paper**, Rebecca Monks (★★★★): The critic calls the conclusion riveting, superbly told and harrowing. She singles out Gemma Whelan’s masterful portrayal of Karen Matthews and the drama’s nuanced account of her motives. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/the-moorside-episode-two-review-47125) - **The Guardian**, Sam Wollaston (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the drama convincing, humane and positive without becoming sentimental. He especially praises Sheridan Smith’s extraordinary, unsentimental performance as Julie Bushby. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/feb/08/the-moorside-review-sheridan-smith-finds-a-new-way-into-the-familiar-awful-shannon-matthews-story) ## Details - **Created by:** Neil McKay - **Creator:** Neil McKay - **Director:** Paul Whittington - **Writer:** Neil McKay - **Editor:** Ben Yeates - **Music:** Badly Drawn Boy - **Production design:** Susie Cullen - **Costume design:** Tudor George - **Producer:** Ken Horn - **Cast:** Sheridan Smith as Julie Bushby; Gemma Whelan as Karen Matthews; Siobhan Finneran as DC Christine Freeman; Siân Brooke as Natalie Brown; Steve Oram as DC Alex Grummit; Dean Andrews as PC Steve 'Kinchie' Kinchin; Kirsty Armstrong as Stacey Bushby; Catherine Breeze as Alice Meehan - **Runtime:** 58m - **Release (the US):** 7 February 2017 - **Genres:** Drama - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQPwx0tJ0nI ## Where to watch in the US - BritBox: streaming, hd - Pluto TV: free - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on - Apple TV: add-on, hd *Checked 2026-10-07.* Also available in: AU, CA, GB, IE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Cathy Come Home* (1966): Another British television drama that insists on seeing people before judging them. - *The Arbor* (2010), Fi1m 83: A more formally adventurous encounter with testimony, family and a Yorkshire estate. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-arbor.md) - *Unbelievable* (2019): Patient attention to women and the damaging business of deciding whom to believe. - *A Separation* (2011), Fi1m 93: Competing loyalties make easy judgements increasingly difficult in this Iranian family drama. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-separation.md) - *Rocks* (2019): Friendship becomes practical work in a British drama attentive to ordinary kindness. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/the-moorside