Best Interests is about the heartbreaking moral dilemma surrounding a young girl’s right to live when doctors make the decision to take her life-saving care away – here’s our review.
The four-part BBC One series introduces us to a loving family, where teenager Marnie is the central focus because of her complicated health needs. Through a series of flashbacks, we see baby Marnie diagnosed with a life-threatening condition.
More than a decade later, her devastated parents are forced to face the fact she may finally die when she “deteriorates rapidly”. Doctors subsequently make the difficult decision to stop her treatment.
The doctors believe it is in her best interests to be allowed to die, but her devoted family disagree. And so begins a fight that will take them through every stage of a legal process…
But, as the title suggests, in whose ‘best interests’ will it be? Truth is, there’s no easy answer to that.
Best Interests review: Marnie’s body is ‘failing her’
New BBC drama Best Interests is the most compelling, thought-provoking drama you’ll watch this week. So you won’t be surprised to learn it’s written by BAFTA-winning writer Jack Thorne – the man behind Help, His Dark Materials, The Virtues, The Accident and Kiri.
The four-parter follows the impossible dilemma facing parents Nicci and Andrew (Sharon Horgan and Michael Sheen), who make the decision to fight for their daughter’s life when doctors decide to stop her care.
The heartbreaking drama introduces what appears to be a ‘typical’, loving family. But at its centre is Marnie, a young girl with a rare form of muscular dystrophy. We see her diagnosed as a young baby, and slowly watch as her condition gets worse and her infections get more severe.
Eventually, doctors warn she will deteriorate, and there’ll be complications to her key organs. Her distraught parents are told her “life will not be a full one”.
In her teens, we see Marnie (Niamh Moriarty) fall ill to a severe chest infection, which eventually leads to a cardiac arrest due a collapsed lung. There is suspected brain damage.
Tragically, the hospital makes the decision to stop treatment, and wants to “move her to supportive [palliative] care only”. Marnie’s parents are told their daughter’s body is “failing her” and “deteriorating rapidly”. They argue she is in pain.
However, her mother refuses to accept this, knowing her daughter still has “moments of great happiness”. Furious with the hospital’s decision, she tells her husband: “They don’t get to decide what happens to her.”
We know from the couple’s arrival at court – separately – that they have chosen different and difficult paths. With neither parent loving their child any less…
Best Interests review: It’s more than just a tear-jerker
Yes, this is a highly emotive, heartbreaking subject matter. And you will cry. You’d be made of stone if you didn’t. But Best Interests is more than just a tear-jerker.
It’s a story about the right to live, and a family driven apart by having to make choices no parent would ever want to make. It’s easy to make statements sat on the sofa at home… But, when your child is desperately ill, who should decide what happens next?
Any parent would feel their heart is being ripped out at the thought of their child dying. But does that mean the child should be kept alive at all costs?
Do the hospitals and nurses have the right to decide when they withdraw care? Best Interests poses difficult questions, for which there are surely no right or wrong answers.
The cast are exceptional. Viewers will want to protect fragile Marnie, played by newcomer Niamh Moriarty. While Sharon Horgan and Michael Sheen are painfully convincing as married couple Nicci and Andrew. However, it’s perhaps Conversations With Friends star Alison Oliver who shines brightest as oldest daughter Katie, whose own needs are largely ignored.
Best Interests is an outstanding series, which is achingly reminiscent of real-life cases. It’s not an easy watch, but it’s worth every tear.
Is Best Interests based on a true story?
The right to die is a contentious debate; a heartbreaking situation that has played out in the media through high-profile real-life cases.
Of course, who could forget the case of 12-year-old Archie Battersbee in 2022. His family lost a High Court battle to keep their son alive after he suffered severe brain damage in an incident at his home in Essex.
He died in August 2022 after a judge ruled that ending life support treatment was in his best interests. His mother, Hollie Dance, said that his rights as a disabled person had been violated.
However, Best Interests is NOT based on any one true story.
Read more: Niamh Moriarty, who plays Marnie in Best Interests: ‘Disability does not define who I am’
Best Interests starts on Monday, June 12, 2023 at 9pm on BBC One. Episode 2 airs on Tuesday at the same time.
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