Episode list

Orphaned as a child in a car crash caused by her unstable mother Ruth is not happy to fall unexpectedly pregnant by husband Patrick. After baby Thomas is born the young couple move to a little house in the country bought for them by his parents,Frederick and Elizabeth,who live nearby. Ruth does not cope well with motherhood and finds Elizabeth gradually taking over her role in a subtle,manipulative way,though she is outwardly kind and friendly. Ruth believes Thomas senses she did not want him and is far better behaved for her mother-in-law,who dotes on him. After she thinks she sees her mother walking in the woods she is diagnosed with a form of post-natal depression and given pills. However Elizabeth coerces Patrick into persuading her to take in-patient psychiatric treatment.

In hospital Ruth realises that she truly loves Thomas and her therapists suggest that Elizabeth is not as supportive as she pretends. On discharge she bonds well with her baby and is mystified by an incident where Thomas appears to have got hold of her anti-depressant pills,even though they were out of his reach. It is also clear that,whilst Elizabeth is wholly dismissive of her daughter who lives abroad,she is unnaturally doting on Patrick. When Ruth suggests that she and Patrick go on holiday with Thomas, Frederick and Patrick support the idea but Elizabeth is firmly against it. Ruth gradually starts to see that Elizabeth,in her desire to have her son and grand-son for herself,has been creating situations to make her daughter-in-law appear unstable and an unfit mother. There is one final confrontation between the two women before Ruth and Patrick are allowed to parent their baby properly and lovingly.