Christopher Reason

When the body of 17-year-old Jackie Shaw is found in a shallow grave, it sends shockwaves through her small West Yorkshire community. Rumours of murder and systematic sexual abuse are rife, and the town's MP, Samuel Stokes, is adding fuel to the fire with his campaign against a so-called 'Asian grooming gang'.

Probation officer Rachel Collier deals with paedophiles on a daily basis: so when she hears that her teenage daughter, Chloe, has become friendly with 24-year-old Tariq, she's concerned where it might lead.

Then three local men, the Jamali brothers, are arrested for murder. The police are confident that the gang's ringleaders are behind bars - but Peter insists that the trio are innocent, and the real perpetrators are being protected. As Rachel investigates what seems to be an establishment cover-up, she places herself and her family in danger - and discovers that nothing, and no-one, is what they seem...

What sort of mother would allow her child to perform online for paedophiles? And how could the family's social worker let it happen? Told in two parts, This Repulsive Woman and Every Child Matters, is a real-time drama that follows the stories of the two women at the centre of a fictional high profile court case and national scandal. This Repulsive Woman stars Maxine Peake as Deborah Hurst, a woman tried and convicted of an offence under the Protection of Children Act 1978 after allowing her ten year old daughter, Paige to dance semi-naked on the internet for paedophiles. The most vilified woman in the UK, she is interviewed by probation officer, Tony Jukes (played by Neil Dudgeon) who must draw up a pre-sentence report fo the Court to consider. Tony digs deep, trying to uncover what would cause a mother to commit such an appalling crime. For Deborah, "It were nowt" - is she a depraved monster, or the cruel victim of circumstance?

In part two, Sarah Lancashire plays Joanne, Deborah Hurst's social worker, who failed to protect Deborah's daughter. It's six months since the case caused an outcry, and in Every Child Matters Joanne tells how her life has been destroyed by the leaking of her personal details to the tabloid press. Suspended from her job and waiting for a disciplinary tribunal, she decides to take a huge risk in the hope of seeking justice for Paige and closure for herself. Why was she victimised by the press and was she really to blame for what happened?