Review of The A Word

'Call the midwife' would have dealt with the issues in an hour,'Casualty' too,and still had time for Charlie to scratch his head. Straight out of the box marked 'Gritty Northern drama' with pale angst - ridden characters first seen in the pale and angst - ridden old b&w British movies of the sixties and performances to match. Mr C.Ecclestone is ludicrously over the top,closely followed by Mr L.Ingleby wound up like a spring and Miss P.Quesnel as the spunky middle - aged mother of a young man with learning difficulties. I'm clearly missing something because many people are going into raptures over 'The A - Word' and with a great - nephew with autism I am aware of the difficulties it causes for everyone involved,but eking this one - trick pony out over three seasons risks people losing interest in a complex and disturbing problem that seems to have no way of being resolved just now.