Family on trial after baby death

Ronnie and Matt tackle a particularly upsetting case involving the death of a baby. When six-month-old Alex Raines is reported dead, what initially seems to bear the hallmarks of a tragic cot death is later diagnosed as shaken baby syndrome. The murder investigation that follows throws up many possible suspects, including an apparently neglectful mum, an absent dad, a resentful nanny and her irritable boyfriend. The detectives have their work cut out to get to the bottom of what happened, and matters are just as complicated for the Crown Prosecutors when,during the trial, new evidence casts doubt on their case. Pitted against the formidable Helena Marsden (Jemma Redgrave), James and Alesha have some investigating of their own to do. In the process, every aspect of the family in question is pulled apart.

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.