ITV's new drama Fallen Angel is a gripping thriller come drama that delves into the mind and past of Rosemary who in the first episode is revealed to be a child murderer. The two subsequent episodes then look at her life in seeking to understand what made her turn out this way, instead of asking who dunnit the question is why did she do it. To answer the questions posed by the trailer for the show: What horror made her heart so dark? Did we create this? This flawless evil?

Emilia Fox plays Rosemary the beautiful, fragile and yet twisted murderer who we see in the present day abduct a young girl, the true horror however has already happened. Rosemary is a multiple child murderer and whilst at the end of the first episode, set in the modern day, Lucy escapes the other children have not been so fortunate.

The shock at the end of the first episode is as the vicar, David Byfield, played by Charles Dance, who has been helping his Godson whose daughter Rosemary abducted enters the police cell where Rosemary is being held. She turns to him and says "Hello Dad". It is obvious that Byfield is racked by guilt. As Dance put it when interviewed "He blames himself but refuses to blame God because he's so desperately holding on to his belief".

As we see back through Rosemary's past it turns out that as a teenager she murdered her step mother, and possibly another Lady in the small village in which they lived. However the question remains was she born evil or was she made so? Certainly her Father, step mother and others left her confused and isolated. But is that enough to explain what could make someone so coldly calculating and manipulative, what could make someone feel it was ok to murder those who seemed to threaten her world.

Does the past alone explain her actions in the present, is it just her desire to get revenge that leads her to kidnap and kill children all to get back at Michael who stands as witness against her murder of her step-mother all those years before?

In the third episode we see the early years of Rosies life, a father obsessed with his work, a Grandfather with dementia and a mother with her own mental health issues. The question remains as you watch was she born evil or was it nurture or environment that led her to be so. There are certainly enough trigger events, her mother having a miscarriage, dad's obsession with work. But the shock comes when we learn that 5 year old Rosie killed her granddad because he said he didn't want to live any more, her mother committing suicide shortly after and claiming she was responsible.

But this is not a bleating heart story, it poses more questions than it answers about why Rosie turned out how she did, and ultimately those questions posed in the trailer remain unanswered. What would make a beautiful young woman a savage and vindictive murderer? What are the triggers for any of us? What stops similar events turning others this way? Is that potential within all of us?

"For from within, out of your hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile you." Jesus in Mark 7.

Christianity & Culture