Jimmy McGovern’s one-off drama Care (BBC1, Sunday 9 December) began with a loving grandmother called Mary having a lovely time with her loving grandchildren. During a laughter-filled visit to the chip shop, she also tested their maths by asking how much their order would cost, and they answered with impressive aplomb. So could it be that McGovern — whose previous work (The Lakes, The Street, Broken etc.) has never been difficult to distinguish from a ray of sunshine — was getting into the festive mood? Well, no. As she drove away from the chippy, Mary slumped forward on to the steering wheel as the children screamed and the car headed towards a roadside skip.
Happily, the children were unharmed, but Mary (Alison Steadman) had suffered a stroke that left her with severe dementia. Worse still, she’d suffered it in austerity Britain. Her daughter Jenny (Sheridan Smith) immediately rushed to the hospital where, after hearing the bad news about her mum, she realised she didn’t have enough cash to get her car out of the car park and was forced to take a costly taxi home.
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