The BBC have knocked it out again with another incredible drama, this time surrounding sexual abuse allegations in Hollywood and how that can affect the victim in ways that you wouldn’t even imagine.

Isaac has just returned to his family in London after shooting a blockbuster film in Hollywood, the first in his career, however things aren’t all glitzy and glamorous when Isaac reveals to his parents that he was assaulted by the director of the film and they seek out what they can do about this. However due to the worries of Isaac being shamed across the media and by his peers, his parents decide to take the gag order from the director’s legal team, which includes a £3 million settlement and a nondisclosure agreement that this can never be spoken of again.

Throughout the series we see Isaac’s personality change, he suddenly starts acting up in school thinking that he is some big superstar, and we also see him take advantage of girls in his school and his drama class in terms of asking for sexual favours because he believes they can be silenced if it ever got out. Plus adding on the pressure from home and the fact that his dad now wants to start halting his stardom dreams because he worries he could be abused again. All of this from one abuser, and rarely do we see this side in the media.

It’s really interesting to watch Isaac change from a boy with so much hope and excitement with this film to a young lad who thinks it’s okay to harass other girls in his school because of what happened to him, and how he thinks he can just pay them off like his parents were and everything would be okay. It really shows the ramifications and how not only the victim is affected by what happened to them but also the people around them and their relationships.

As the series continues soon enough the allegations come to light through a journalist that speaks to Isaac’s sister and this affects Isaac in different ways including his own best friend and half brother disowning him as a friend because he thinks that he is gay because of what happened. As well as other peers deciding to blow it out of proportion and it makes you realise: no wonder so many victims don’t come out when they have been assaulted in such ways because of how people around them react, and if we saw them as a victim and not someone who did anything wrong then maybe they will feel more confident to come out against these people, but unfortunately in the society we live in today I don’t believe that will ever be the case.

This series sheds a lot of lights on victims of abuse and power and also shows how much responsibility and horror the parents have to go through and how no matter what they do they can be shown in a very negative light when really they only have their kid’s best intentions in mind. I highly recommend this show if you enjoy dramas like this, however while you never see any of the assault it is very dark topic that is spoken of quite candidly and can easily cause a lot of negative emotions, so if any of that could affect you then I would definitely give it a miss.

What do you think of Dark Money?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

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