At the beginning of the episode, Polly Bevan (Sarah Lancashire) fixes a woman’s hair in her home. She tells the woman how to deal with any color problems before she leaves. After that, Polly heads upstairs and finds her daughter Leona (Jade Croot) with a boy who is much older than her. Polly gets angry and tells the boy how old her daughter is. She throws the guy’s clothes out of the window and tells him to jump as well. While he doesn’t want to do that, he has no other choice. After that, we jump over toe Debbie Kethin (Genevieve Barr) and her husband, Alan (Kai Owen). Kethin tells her husband that she is going to win the race today for him.

He encourages him to take the day off but he cannot. He says that he has to be on site for the day. After that, Polly is surprised by Iwan (Mark Lewis Jones) who is dressed in a banana outfit. Polly tells her husband about the visit from Angela (Joanna Scanlan) earlier that day. Leona leaves a few moments later. Alan arrives at work and calls someone while Leona speaks with the boy who fled her home. Leona meets up with her friend while Polly and her friends walk through the parade. However, Debbie insists that she is going to run it.

Iwan gives a speech to the crowd. He tells them about The Light which is going to open soon and it will be bringing jobs to the city. Meanwhile, Leona and her friends climb over the fence at the construction site and break into the building. Iwan pokes fun at Rhys (Christian Patterson) for wearing a jumpsuit for the first time in many years. The race gets started while Leona and her friends begin exploring the building. Leona and her friends smoke cigarettes while venturing through the old building. They go into the new portion of the building and spray it with graffiti.

Debbie outruns Polly and her friends. Leona and her friends spot air tanks. Before too long, the kids cause an explosion at the plant. Alan notices and rushes inside. Meanwhile, Polly and her friends stop and rush to the scene. They’re not allowed past the gate. Polly tries to find out if anyone has been hurt. She phones Leona but her daughter doesn’t answer. Leona is shown inside. She is alive. Iwan arrives and tells Polly that it isn’t a big deal that their daughter isn’t answering her phone. Debbie arrives and becomes concerned for her husband. Alan and the other man try to carry some of the kids out of the facility.

Tim Das (Nabhaan Rizwan) rushes to Harriet (Sidse Babett Knudsen) to make sure she is aware of the explosion. She decides to go down there. Angela tries to get in touch with Mia. While the phone is answered, Mia doesn’t say anything to her mother. Harriet learns that it was likely a gas explosion even though they hadn’t connected the gas supply. Tim lets her know that kids are stuck inside. Frank wants her to come home until they know what has happened. Rescuers try to make their way into the facility but it begins collapsing quickly. Outside, Polly and the others prepare for the worst.

Harriet arrives at the scene and watches the rescue attempt with the others. Polly gets into an argument from her and it is recorded by the media. After that, two people are brought out of the facility. One is alive and another is in a body bag. We jump forward and see Polly at the hospital with Angela. Debbie arrives at the hospital and begins asking about Alan. She is told to ask at reception but they do not know where he is. Polly is told that Leona is alive but she has a serious head injury and a fractured skull. She is told that some of the other kids have been less fortunate.

Polly learns that a man was first on the scene and he got Leona closer to the entrance. She is told that the man’s name is Martin Harris (Shaun Parkes). He is alive as well. After that, Angela tells Polly that her daughter is dead as she rushes off. Debbie is allowed to see her husband and it is not good. Polly speaks with Martin and lets him know that Leona is alive. He says that he had gone for a walk and noticed the explosion. Polly shakes his hand and tells him that she’ll help do what she can. She offers him free haircuts for life. Iwan stays at home and watches his wife on television.

Next, Polly is interviewed by an investigator who wants to know what Leona was up to. Polly explains that Iwan is the leader of the council so he got the investment going for the building. The investigator wonders if it might be a rebellion gone wrong or something like that. Harriet speaks with Tim about the television scene. Tim confirms that it is all over Twitter. Harriet that she never liked Polly. Tim tells her that she did nothing. Harriet wants to find out if they’re responsible for the accident before Tim tells her that he loves her. She doesn’t respond to that comment. Polly returns home and tells Iwan that they’ll be able to see their daughter soon.

Iwan isn’t sure that Leona will want to see him. Polly calls him a coward so he takes her to the ground and punches her a few times. They cry and hug one another after that. Angela finds Debbie outside and tells her that everyone is going to the site together for a vigil of sorts. After that, Polly watches a statement from Harriet about getting to the bottom of the matter and finding out what happened. Polly is told that Leona has some type of paralysis and they do not know what condition her pain is in. She runs into Harriet a few moments later. Harriet gives her a card and promises to help do everything she can. However, she says that Polly was wrong about what she said.

Debbie goes to the hospital while Polly checks on her daughter for the first time after the accident. Leona wakes up so Polly wipes her face. Debbie arrives a few seconds later and enters Leona’s room. Polly tells Debbie that Leona’s brain is disordered so she has been writing things down for her. Debbie finds a way to communicate with her. Leona spells out the word others. She is told that she was very lucky because the others did not survive. Polly says that they’ll find out who did this. Meanwhile, the others march toward the gate and sing together. The singing stops at Angela’s request. Harriet sees Iwan while sitting outside of his house. She leaves and the episode ends.

 

The Accident Review

I am not sure what to think of The Accident at this point. However, I fully understand why it got such terrible scores on IMDB and elsewhere. The show is tediously slow and not completely believable. I am having a hard time sympathizing with Leona but I am glad that she survived. This wasn’t even an abandoned building that the kids were breaking into. It was a construction site so they had to know that they were taking risks.

Not to mention the fact that Leona was sleeping with a boy much older than her and Polly didn’t seem too worried about it. The story is a bit sad but it is hard to overlook some of these things. I won’t bash the show just yet since this is only the first episode. I will say that I wasn’t too impressed with it. We’ll start by giving the opener a 6.5. That might be a bit too generous though.