I can see this miniseries stirring up a lot of emotion for people both on the side of Ashley and against her, but really when it comes down to the law we can’t let our emotions get the better of us.

This miniseries follows a woman called Ashley who was married to a man called Kennard. One night while Kennard is out at the airport Ashley gives birth to a baby girl, alone, and takes that new born to the park and leaves her there to be found the next day unfortunately no longer alive. Of course with the injuries of birth and massive blood loss Ashley goes to hospital and is soon confronted by the police who, while she is still very unwell, question her about her daughters death.

Of course we follow the defence mainly who want to look at all sides of the story. Looking at Kennard‘s alibi, what sort of person he was, what their marriage was like, what their home life was like, as they already had a daughter together, and also looking at the fact that the child that died was not Kennard’s.

We find out soon enough that Kennard isn’t the nicest man. We are told he is a serial cheater who has threatened Ashley‘s life especially around the idea of her cheating and having a baby with another man, so in some ways this explains why she did what she did, if she feared for her and her eldest daughter’s life and knew that this baby could cause serious harm to them, would you be thinking in your right mind at that point?

It was speculated that Kennard helped Ashley dispose of the baby but I don’t believe this. I think he was clueless to the whole thing and from what we hear about how he cheats with other women and doesn’t seem to care much for Ashley it’s not surprising that he didn’t notice that she was pregnant, because I don’t think despite his interview, that they had the best marriage where they were intimate with each other. So for her to be able to conceal a bump by wearing baggy clothes or pyjamas doesn’t come across as shocking to me, because why would you want to be intimate with a guy you know is being intimate with other women?

But despite all this, despite the fact that Ashley was probably fearful for her life and didn’t know what to do with this baby, the fact that she tried to cover it up and just forget it ever happened, the fact that she tried to go through the pregnancy not actually thinking she’s ever going to have the baby and it will just magically go away. Despite all this we still have to look at what actually happened, which was that this poor new born lost its life in a horrible way all because of a marriage that had gone bad.

And unfortunately the person at the helm of this crime was Ashley. She does admit now that she had mental issues and was scared and worried etc. and I do believe that. I do think that if she wasn’t so fearful of her husband then maybe none of this would’ve happened, but at the same time she still went to this extreme and that’s not okay.

I do believe Ashley should be serving jail time but I also see this miniseries as an extreme example of what can happen if you stay in a relationship that you know is toxic. It not only affects you but everyone around you because you will no longer be the person that you truly are, you will be changed by this other person who is treating you so badly and if Ashley was able to get out or leave him then none of this would’ve ever happened. She could’ve found someone that loved her and cherished her much sooner than she actually did.

This was a very insightful miniseries that had me glued from the first episode to the last. It can cause a lot of emotion because you can either look at it from the side of Ashley as a monster who caused the death of a new born baby that should never have happened and that she deserves to rot in jail, or you can see it from her side and think her husband was part of the reason that this happened. Her husband treated her so badly and it’s such a tragic tale. I do see Ashley as a victim of domestic abuse whether it be emotional or physical but I also see her as the one who caused this baby to die and so, while I do feel sorry for her, I also believe that she should be punished because that is not something that someone should be allowed to get away with.

What do you think of Ashley‘s case?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding