I know the leading actress best for her Oscar winning performance in Women in Love, this was her return to acting after 27 years, after having a career in politics, an interesting television made film. Basically, Maud (BAFTA winning Glenda Jackson) is an 80-something woman affected by dementia. She relies on sticky notes to get through the day as her memory slowly deteriorates. But her condition has never diminished her strong stubborn nature. She often spends time with her best friend, another elderly woman named Elizabeth (EastEnders' Maggie Steed), and they arrange a shopping trip together. But when Maud turns up at Elizabeth's house, there is no answer, and she notices that her friend has not taken her eyeglasses with her. Maud is certain something terrible has happened, but her attempts to raise the alarm are ignored. Maud's daughter Helen (Helen Behan) dismisses her mother's worrying, but Helen's daughter, Maud's granddaughter, Katy (Nell Williams) is supportive as much as possible. Maud tries to go about her daily routine as much as possible but cannot escape turning detective to try and solve the mystery of her friend's disappearance. But with her memory fading it is not easy to hold onto the clues as she follows them. Despite her constant note-making, Maud cannot help but shake the feeling she has lost a crucial clue to unlock the mystery of Elizabeth's fate. Throughout her personal sleuthing, she often has flashbacks of a past disappearance: young Maud (Liv Hill) was shattered when her elder sister Susan "Sukey" Jefford (Sophie Rundle) disappeared 70 years ago. Helen is becoming emotionally distraught by Maud's constant confusion and presumably nonsensical mumblings, so is forced to sell her mother's house and bring her home to live with her. Elizabeth is eventually found, when it turns out she has been taken to hospital. But Maud insists something is buried in a garden and will not shut up until it is unearthed. It turns out, her apparently disorganised ramblings were in fact truthful, when a frustrated Helen digs up the ground where Maud claims something is to be found. It is there that the body of Sukey is discovered, and the memory she was referring to was witnessing the kidnap or murder of her sister. Helen is relieved that her mother has resolved this devastating event, but Maud still mentions that "Elizabeth is missing", meaning that sadly her memory will continue to fade. Also starring Mark Stanley as Frank Jefford, Sukey's husband, Sam Hazeldine as Tom Horsham, Maud's son, John-Paul Hurley as Mr Palmer, Maud and Sukey's father, Michelle Duncan as Mrs Palmer, Maud and Sukey's mother, Linda Hargreaves as Carla, Maud's carer and Anna-Maria Nabirye as Detective Sergeant Grainger. Jackson gives a superbly believable performance as the old lady struggling to remember a tragic event from her past, while also trying to find out what happened in the present to her best friend, and there is good support from Behan and Williams. Obviously, it was going to be an emotional story, concerning a terrible chronic neurodegenerative disease, but it also pulls you in on the lead character's journey, getting lost along the way, to solve the mystery, a most worthwhile drama. Glenda Jackson was number 21 on The 50 Greatest British Actresses. It was nominated the BAFTA for Single Drama. Very good!
Review of Elizabeth Is Missing
