Prisoners’ Wives–Collateral Damage?

The BBC drama series Prisoners’ Wives focuses on the wives, children and other family members and friends living in the “outside” world while their husbands or partners are incarcerated.  A highly original narrative of the collateral damage that imprisonment inflicts on the innocent and sometimes the not-so-innocent.  

Set in Sheffield, England we watch four women (in series one) navigate the prison system, coping with the traumatic upheaval in their lives, present and future.  One wife, Francesca Miller (Polly Walker of “Bridgerton” and “Line of Duty”), is married to Paul (Iain Glen of “Game of Thrones”) . Considering himself a “godfather” for crime syndicates both inside and outside Sheffield prison, Paul is serving a twelve-year sentence for financial fraud, with six years remaining. Gemma (newcomer Emma Rigby), a pregnant young spouse completely unaware of her husband’s criminal acts, believes he is innocent. Lou (Natalie Gavin) is responsible for her partner’s imprisonment and is now shouldering responsibility as a single mom to an emotionally frail nine-year old boy.  And Harriet (Pippa Hayward) is a sixty-something widow whose adult son harbors  tremendous rage towards her. 

The four women are indifferent to each other as they endure the indignities of body searches before prison visiting hours.  But soon they form a bond as the wife, mother, and/or partner of a prisoner. They  support each other as they struggle to maintain some sense of self-worth.

In Season Two Emma’s story has ended so a soccer coach, Jaiden (Jorden Bennie) is introduced, the newest prisoner to be incarcerated.  Vicky (Emma Matthews), who has been his upstanding wife, now suffers neighborhood excommunication that also impacts her two young boys.  DCI Fontaine (Nicola Walker of “Unforgotten”, “Annika” and “A Mother’s Son”) is in charge of investigating the gangland hold on Yorkshire County, focusing on Paul Miller.  Taking over as the brains behind her husband’s syndicate, Francesca finds herself in a cat-and-mouse game with DCI Fontaine.

Prisoners’ Wives explores unfamiliar territory in a highly original way. Unintended consequences impact an estranged but loving father, a needy man-boy son, a single mother who cannot find legitimate employment, and a gangland spouse accustomed to the luxe life.  Each woman experiences the precarity of living without stability, continually threatened and uncertain about the most basic assumptions of life. The turning points for each woman and those she loves in both seasons  play out with a rapid, irreversible shift where returning to a previous stage of life seems virtually impossible.

An extraordinary concept, cast, and narrative!  Few series match Prisoners Wives for its intelligence and power. Highly recommend!

Availability:  Hulu