Following on from the incredible success of Netflix's Adolescence (which we named the best new show of the year), its production company Warp Films has done it again, delivering a gripping watch with the BBC's new drama Reunion.
The revenge thriller follows deaf ex-prisoner Daniel Brennan (Matthew Gurney) who seeks not only absolution but also justice for the past traumas that impacted the choices that led to his imprisonment.
However, like Adolescence, Reunion is more than just exquisite storytelling that's made richer by an outstanding cast (Gurney himself, Lara Peake, Anne-Marie Duff, Rose Ayling-Ellis and Eddie Marsan, to name a few). It is also a vital drama.
Told from the perspective of the deaf community, the bilingual series, which features both BSL (British sign language) and spoken English, speaks to society's failings of the deaf community on multiple levels. Each action compounds the next, paving the road for acute suffering.
Of the characters, Brennan is the most failed. Through his ostracisation from the deaf community, and his inability to really assimilate in the wider world (or, for want of a better description, the hearing world), we see the psychological and emotional impact.
Related: Rose Ayling-Ellis says it was "refreshing" to work on new BBC drama that's predominantly BSL
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His isolation, through the absence of communication, reaches heartbreaking levels, as Gurney explained to Digital Spy: "Imagine someone took your voice box out. How would you feel about not being able to talk? It's the same for sign language and access to that.
"How can I survive if my language is gone? I think that's really important to be reflected."
Gurney's performance can only be described as poetic. He is utterly absorbing as Brennan, marrying the conflicting emotions within the character perfectly. He is angry, volatile, caring, wounded, vulnerable, loving and lovable all in one breath. It is gorgeous to watch Gurney meld all that complexity.
Brennan's relationship with his daughter Carly (Peake) is also evocative, and the credit for the way that is depicted is not all down to Gurney; Peake is also majestic in her performance.
Rough around the edges but still tender, Carly's desire to be held and taken care of is at odds with her anger, but makes sense once you learn what she's been through.
There is also humour baked into their father-daughter dynamic. It is fleeting and delicate, also crass at times, but it is there as a demonstration of their love and longing for reconciliation, despite their problems.
Making up a polar opposite parent-child duo are the characters of Christine and Miri, played by Bad Sisters' Anne-Marie Duff and EastEnders' Rose Ayling-Ellis, whose lives have been blighted by Brennan's actions.
They carry around a wound; Christine is desperate for answers, while Miri is still struggling to make sense of it all. There is both grace and pain pouring out of both women, but the way it manifests in both Duff and Ayling-Ellis' performance is different. Christine is determined and brave, where her daughter Miri is timid and unmoored. This brings balance to their on-screen partnership.
The stellar performance of the main cast is bolstered by an ensemble of deaf actors, who get the rare opportunity to step away from tokenistic roles where previously they may have been the only deaf character in the story.
In Reunion they are fully immersed in the storytelling, as they are in life; simply husbands, wives, friends, parents, colleagues.
"For me as a deaf actor. This was a kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity," Gurney shared. "I don't know when my next opportunity will be. It meant a lot to me, and it means a lot to our deaf acting community because we're finally being seen.
"This should have happened ages ago. I don't know why it's happening in 2025… but I hope that directors, filmmakers, production companies see this program and realise that we can do it. Don't be frightened. That's my hope but what comes next? I don't know."
Perhaps one of the best things about Reunion is that representation is just a by-product of the actors themselves being deaf. Not a tick-box exercise, adding to some diversity quota.
While it may have a clear, prevalent and political message, it is, at the end of the day, just an excellent drama told by excellent actors. It doesn't preach but instead moves you in a way that compels you to consider a new perspective.
Reunion is a credit to its talented creator William Mager, whose experience as a deaf individual lives in each moment. And by the end of the four-part drama, you will be forever changed by the words that underscore it all: 'No one to sign my name.'
Reunion is available to watch on BBC 1 and BBC iPlayer.
TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
