Furthering Channel 4's commitment to making thought-provoking drama that tackles difficult subjects, Secret Life is a powerful feature-length single drama that questions the lack of effective measures in place to prevent convicted child sex offenders from re-offending after prison, and ultimately seeks to explore ways to best safeguard our children.
Matthew Macfadyen (Spooks, Pride and Prejudice) plays Charlie. In his early thirties, Charlie is white, middle-class and a child sex offender who has served his prison sentence but who, by his own admission, continues to pose a significant danger to children. When the rehabilitation centre he has elected to attend is shut down he is cast adrift in the local community, without guidance or psychological treatment, to struggle alone with his compulsion to re-offend. Co-starring Phil Davis and Holly Aird. Written and directed by Rowan Joffe (writer of C4's Gas Attack, Last Resort), who was prompted to write the drama after watching a news bulletin about the closure of the last rehabilitation centre for child sex offenders in the UK.
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