The Missing BBC1

[roundandround51]

Anyone watching , so far quite tense especially the music

[susiedaisy]

Good theory fallon

[BigglesFliesUndone]

I am loving it, but being a terribly impatient person, get very stressed about all the different characters being introduced!

[McButtonwillow]

I agree quill they can't stop comparisons being drawn but the fact that they have gone out of their way to highlight the similarities to the Mcanns and their case is very distasteful IMO.

[R4roger]

unless of course we are looking for similarities?

[jellyandbeans]

it seemed so tedious last night. The wife didn't seem that hostile towards the nurse in the hospice even though he had obviously some connection to the original case. Why was the first suspect now living in the UK?( the one in the chicken shop) I think that Emily's present husband, the liaison officer, has something to do with it - he is trying to stop her having anything to with her ex. The comparisons between the Mc cann case is very disturbing too, the journalist trying to say it was their fault, the book he wrote about it. 6 more weeks to go, not sure what else they can find now, but I hope its something and not as slow as this weeks one was!

[FallonColby]

QuillPen When the philanthropic Scottish businessman appeared I thought the parallels were getting too similar, it comes across as lazy. I have a feeling the younger male detective goes to jail as well (as Olly's Dad hinted to in the first episode) - probably something to do with a previous case. I think it is a gripping drama but there are too many obvious parallels with the McCann case.
I can easily see how they will fill another 6 hours though - Emily's affair with the police officer/marriage breakdown, media influence, speculation about the parents and different suspects will be brought in.

[MarthasHarbour]

I am still struggling with the RL aspect to it, having a 5yo myself (I had a tear in the hospice when grandad thought James was Ollie) but am compelled to watch.

I believe that Vincent is not involved but Ian definitely is.

And yes, too many McCann similarities.

[FallonColby]

It had crossed my mind if James was Ollie - some kind of mix-up at birth/adoption? Though it would enter into the realms of dodgy channel 5 afternoon movies if that were the case. There is something very shifty about Ian though, it seemed too much of a coincidence that he happened to be on holiday there at the time, whatever happened I think it was planned and not random.

[FallonColby]

sorry I meant Mark, Emily's new husband the police officer-not Ian.

[funambulist]

I agree, FallonColby, there is something odd about the police liaison officer, now Emily's fiancé.

At first, in the present day bits, I thought that he was trying protect Emily from getting hurt by Toby's belief that he can find Oliver after all this time. However I think answering her phone, lying to her about who has called her and trying to "accidentally" take it away with him when he left the hospice goes beyond this.

I'm not sure why he's doing this, whether he thinks he's protecting her but is going overboard, whether there is something we don't know about the relationship between Emily, Toby and Police Liaison man (can't remember his name) e.g. Toby has previously gone too far and upset Emily, whether PLM is just worried that Emily might go off to France to look for Oliver too and not get married, or whether he has sinister reasons of his own for concealing the fact that Toby has new evidence.

Does anyone else think that Emily is only with PLM because he has a son the same age as Oliver who looks rather like him? I wonder whether Emily appears to be coping better than Toby because she is sort of pretending in her head that James IS Oliver.

Does PLM have a wife either in the 2006 bits or in the present day? He and James always seem to be on their own.

If the house where Oliver's scarf came from and where the drawing was had builders in at the time of Oliver's disappearance, they should be easy to trace. At this stage I guess the trail will lead to Scottish business man, but surely it can't be that straightforward as there are still 6 episodes to go.

I don't understand the bit with hospice guy, I think that I missed that bit. How do we know that Toby beat him up? Does Emily know about it?

What is it that Toby, Emily and Emily's dad did before the disappearance, that Emily's dad thought could be connected to it? I like the dodgy adoption theory but don't quite see how that would work.

I suspect that the program makers are aware of the McCann parallels and that more differences will emerge as the series goes on, for a start, surely there will be some sort of resolution on tv in a way that you often don't get in real life.

[OverAndAbove]

Yes I wondered if it was a foreign adoption (a dodgy one through the church maybe?) or surrogacy that was the "secret". I'm quite enjoying it, but would prefer not to wait six weeks for everything to be resolved!

[FallonColby]

I think the bloke in the hospice is a Doctor - maybe he used to be Emily's doctor and something went wrong when he was treating her, hence him getting beaten up.

[OwlCapone]

I haven't noticed any similarities to the McCanns at all.

[FallonColby]

funambulist We know the hospice guy was beaten up as his picture was in the Father's police file that the detective was reading.

[funambulist]

Do we know what hold the English journalist has over the French police officer who is giving him police files? Is it just that English journalist is paying him or is there blackmail too?

Did English journalist actually intend to publish the details about Vincent or was he just pretending that was the reason he wanted the file, whereas in fact he wanted it to try and build trust with Toby and Emily so that he could get an exclusive interview?

English journalist is coming over as chillingly ambitious at the moment. The program seems to suggest that he ended up writing a book about Oliver's disappearance that smeared Toby and Emily. He said to Emily that he knew what they'd done, although, if he had put this in the book, would he have said so in that way, as then everyone would have known what they'd done.

One thing that I think is interesting is Toby and Emily's sense of confusion dealing with a different justice system and foreign country where they don't always understand what is being said or is happening.

It is noticeable how they cling to English speakers like Laurence and Mark. Incidentally Mark, doesn't seem to speak French that well, which surely impairs his ability to act as a liaison officer.

However, I'm getting a bit frustrated by the way that characters are established as French speaking but, once that is done they kindly speak English for the benefit of Mark, Toby and Emily. I don't think that Vincent would have spoken English in his police interview just because Mark was in the room. I think I'd prefer more subtitles. I'm getting irritated on the French characters behalf at the fact that they are all having to speak English rather than the English characters having to have a go at speaking French (grieving parents excepted of course).

[funambulist]

Thank you FallonColby I missed that bit! Was it Baptiste who was reading the file? (Older limping detective) Was there any indication of when that happened? Pre or post Oliver's disappearance?

[FallonColby]

Baptiste was reading the file and I think it happened prior to Olly going missing, Baptiste had asked for a background check on the parents - he has also asked for the bank statements. I think the journalist knows that the other detective may have tampered with evidence or a witness in a previous case and he is using it as blackmail with which he could disgrace him in the press. I don't think the journalist every truly wanted to help, he just wanted the big story and would do anything to get it - sadly, this isn't that unrealistic when we think about the phone hacking in this country.

[MarthasHarbour]

Marking my place for this week's episode. Not sure my nerves can take another 6 weeks!

[CruCru]

Hmm. It was uncomfortable viewing.

[Ir1na]

Bumped for tonight!

[BOFster]

The journalist bloke is insufferably smug, isn't he?

[Pud2]

Is the guy in prison the policeman?

[Jenda]

Yes, think so