National Treasure (Channel 4, Tuesdays, 9pm) is one of the most Catholic dramas we’ve seen in a while. Robbie Coltrane plays Paul Finchley, a retired comedian accused of raping several women long ago – one of them an underage babysitter. Whether he did it is unclear. In a sense it doesn’t matter. Writer Jack Thorne implies that Finchley could have done it. Coltrane plays the accused as if he fears that he did. The show is enveloped in guilt.
We live in the wake of Savile, and Edenic memories of youth have been shattered. Beloved clowns have been exposed as child abusers. We weren’t being entertained; we were being groomed. And as often happens in abuse cases, the sense of responsibility goes far and wide. Was it, upon reflection, obvious what was going on? By failing to spot a crime, do we share responsibility for it?
