New thriller Hollington Drive is totally gripping

What connects Lyra Belacqua, the tomboy heroine of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, put-upon middle-class mum Julie in Motherland, and Line of Duty’s hard-as-nails Detective Chief Superintendent Patricia Carmichael?

The answer, of course, is actor Anna Maxwell Martin. The Beverley-born star has made those roles and many others her own, turning her hand to everything from sombre period drama to set-your-teeth-on-edge comedy without breaking so much of a bead of sweat, entrancing audiences of all ages as she goes.

After studying at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Anna graduated in 2001 and landed her first stage role in a Donmar Warehouse production of Little Foxes.

She moved on to the National Theatre’s epic production of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, playing the 12-year-old Lyra despite being more than twice that age. Anna said in a 2020 interview: “I wasn’t confident about my looks because I wasn’t classically pretty like a lot of actresses when I was growing up. But I never doubted I could act. I wasn’t arrogant, just totally sure I was doing the right thing.”

She was absolutely on the money and earned rave reviews for her Lyra, as well as her first Olivier nomination.

TV work quickly beckoned and Anna popped up as Bessie Higgins in the 2004 BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, and made an appearance in Doctor Who before landing the role of Esther Summerson in the 2005 BBC version of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House.

Her work was rewarded the following year with a Best Actress BAFTA Television Award. Since then, Anna has gone on to consistently showcase her range of talents, including holding her own against Hollywood’s Anne Hathaway in Becoming Jane, and securing a second BAFTA with the searing Channel 4 drama Poppy Shakespeare, not to mention landing another nomination for her work in the serial South Riding.

In 2012, she had a starring role in 1950s-set ITV drama The Bletchley Circle, which also featured Rachael Stirling and followed a group of female former wartime codebreakers as they investigated and solved complex crimes.

That duo is reunited for this four-part thriller, playing sisters Theresa (Martin) and Helen (Stirling), who appear close and their families enjoy spending time together.

The drama begins on a warm, balmy evening, barbecue sizzling on the patio: the perfect family setting. The atmosphere is chilled as they lounge in Theresa and partner Fraser’s perfectly manicured garden. Apart from Fraser’s brother Eddie (Ken Nwosu) winding everyone up, there’s hardly a hint of tension, but this is the calm before the storm.

When Theresa’s 10-year-old son Ben asks to play in the nearby park with his cousin Eva, Fraser is happy to let them go, but Theresa is plagued by feelings of anxiety.

As expected, the children don’t return on time and Theresa goes looking, finding the youngsters on the edge of a woodland area. They appear to be fighting and her instincts tell her something terrible has happened.

Sure enough, later that evening their distraught neighbour Jean (Jodie McNee) calls on the family and says her son Alex has gone missing…

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