Behind Closed Doors, BBC1 - TV review: A haunting film on domestic abuse

Three women waived their right to anonymity to tell their shocking stories of violence at the hands of their partners in this important documentary

Behind Closed Doors (BBC)

Olivia Colman narrated Behind Closed Doors. Hearing those recognisable tones, you might have been fooled into thinking that this was her in investigative mode for our entertainment, like on Broadchurch or as intelligence officer Angela Burr in The Night Manager. But then we heard from the three subjects who waived their right to anonymity to appear in this documentary on domestic violence. With their faces stripped of makeup, bruises fresh and untelegenic, lips not the shape they should be, this wasn’t the work of any make-up team.

It was filmed over 12 months so we got to see these cases through from the initial attacks to sentencing. What should, theoretically, have been a satisfying watch instead opened our eyes to the inconsistencies in the British justice system. I can only hope some good comes of airing them.

The footage here was made up of interviews with the subjects, alongside police evidence taken at the time of the attacks and subsequent investigation. It was hard to look at Sabrina’s purple-toned face and arms and bloodshot eye, the result of a six-hour attack at the hands of her partner. And it was hard to listen to him blame it on a drug dealer in the police interview.

“That’s all my blood sprayed up the wall,” she said in one video, touching the faded splatters as though pointing out a damp patch to a handyman. She was far too used to this horror.

We saw how hard it could be to break the cycle; Helen’s partner nearly killed her but she still met up with him while he was on bail, putting her case in jeopardy. “I hate him but he’s like a drug,” she said. We were told that on average women will suffer 50 incidences of domestic abuse before contacting the police, so these three were in a better position than many.

Gemma was not in thrall to her ex in the same way as the other two. But the abuse she’d suffered impacted on her whole family. We saw her young son given a talk on safety strategy. Worrying whether you are going to be approached by a violent man on the warpath at any given time is not something any child should have on their mind.

I think it was commendable of Thames Valley Police to let the cameras in on their domestic abuse team. The officers at volunteer agencies we saw working were admirable, the system they worked within, less so. Sentencing seemed erratic and it appeared offenders were released on legal technicalities, rather than what was in the best interest of the women: “The judge has put you at risk now,” said Helen’s dad, disbelieving that his daughter’s dangerous, volatile partner had been let out on bail. Again.

Even jail couldn’t definitively break the cycle. Sabrina’s boyfriend was sent down and she was floored; on the street, crying, she still loved him, she said.