I Am Ruth

I haven’t watched it yet but it has very good reviews.

We watched this, Allsorts. Just as perplexed as you. I thought the idea was a good one. Daughter who was sucked into social media etc etc. I was surprised to hear she was 17, I'd thought it might have been a younger girl.

As for Kate Winslet's character, I just couldn't stand her. I'm not surprised the girl had problems. She was infuriating and appeared to be clueless.

Shame, good idea, rotten programme.

I watched it last night Allsorts. I was really looking forward to it as I love Kate Winslet but at the end of it I thought ‘well that’s two hours of my life I’ll never get back again’.

I couldn’t warm to Freya. Kate - as mum - was so bluddy annoying. ‘Are you alright sweetheart/darling?’ It was good when her son surprised her with a visit and watching his mum interact with his sister said ‘why on earth did you just say that to her mum? She was doing okay till you thanked her for coming down to the table’.

I get that mum was walking on eggshells. She was scared for Freya’s mental health. Knew it was something on her mobile phone as it kept pinging all the time and Freya was either furious or sobbing. But to stand the other side of a bedroom door at 1:30am and tap at her door to say ‘sweetheart, I think you need to switch your phone off now darling, it’s late and you’ve got school in the morning’ was beyond irritating to listen to!

And obviously clues were there for the viewer, Freya taking selfies in her underwear, probably coerced and bullied. I wanted mum to say ‘no phone in your room at bedtime when it’s college the next day. Go to sleep. Leave it switched off in the hall till morning’. But then Freya was 17y. Perhaps I’m being naive. But the way I look at it, regardless of the age of a child, if you know something’s off, you have to communicate. Deep dive time. Whatever ‘it’ was, wasn’t going to just stop was it?

I just wondered why on earth the daughter didn't have her phone on silent.

She was scared to miss the messages. It wasn’t as though she wanted to sleep. Well she probably did but she was panicking. She was on ‘high alert’ all the time.

But she wouldn't have missed them. She had her phone in her hand constantly. She'd see that she had a message. Or she could have had it on vibrate. Just seemed really weird that she was desperate her Mum didn't find out about what was going on but she had her phone pinging constantly.

It just didn't ring true to me. I was annoyed with it. I felt it could have been a good tool to possibly help others how to react but it didn't.

Also the GP asked her if her mother was part of the problem which she agreed to.

I'm not going to say how at 17 I was wandering round the world but I felt it would have been better had she been early teens. Then real alarm bells ring. Of course depression hits at any age but this girl could have bene heading off to university in. months.

And why did her Mum keep saying she'd drop her off at school? She was a college student.

It just irritated me which I'm sure you can tell! I'll be quiet now

apparently they made up the dialogue as they went along, rather than having a set script.
and those two are her, the actor's. actual children.
i found it heavy going, only persevered because i'd heard her talking about it on woman's hour.
worthy but too long. and dull.

oh, and the school master and the GP are really those professions, same names even.

Glad it wasn’t just me. I could stand being suffocated like that, being told every few minutes in that sad apologetic voice, love you, love you darling. I would have left home, at 17 I had been working 2 years and very independent, isn’t that how you bring them up, to make their own decisions? I think it a dismal failure in what it set out to do, it should have been a more normal family not one entirely wound up in each other to that degree.

I have recorded it to watch tonight. I don't think I'll bother lol. Any suggestions of something good to watch?

I’m thinking the same DaisyAlice

DaisyAlice

I have recorded it to watch tonight. I don't think I'll bother lol. Any suggestions of something good to watch?

I'm looking forward to Three Pines on Amazon.

I saw Kate Winslet interviewed before hand so knew that it was about phone contents these days and the appalling websites that young people become addicted to and the terrible effect on their lives. So I found it quite moving and feel great sympathy for parents trying to protect their teenagers these days.
Yes, Kate's character was a little irritating at times but generally I thought it well acted. The daughter was very effective as the tortured teenager I thought.

It would have been better if Freya had been say 15y and still at ‘school’. More believable.

So many ‘red flags’ for that mum to hone into - no friends calling round etc. What 17y old goes to bed at 7pm? Well, just to hole up in her room with her mobile was all. Shattered in a morning as awake most of the night so too tired to get out of bed. And then the constant ‘are you alright darling? I’m just trying to be a good mummy here’.

No, it didn’t work for me I’m sorry to say.

Zoejory

We watched this, Allsorts. Just as perplexed as you. I thought the idea was a good one. Daughter who was sucked into social media etc etc. I was surprised to hear she was 17, I'd thought it might have been a younger girl.

As for Kate Winslet's character, I just couldn't stand her. I'm not surprised the girl had problems. She was infuriating and appeared to be clueless.

Shame, good idea, rotten programme.

I would sum it up just the same as you.

That was very mild, compared to what my daughter goes through.

PS. And it's all part of a campaign to get these websites controlled or even banned . Too many young people have died or been made ill.

I Don’t think she was addicted. I think she was scared and ashamed. I’m not even sure it was a website. It could have been selfies sent to a lad she knew who then blackmailed her ‘if you don’t send more I’ll share these around’. It was never spelt out to the viewer.

It showed how powerful social media can be at destroying our childrens lives. Yes, Ruth was annoying and not very aware of her daughter’s situation but at that age teenagers have always been the same, social media has just exacerbated problems, there is no escape from the nastiness and pressure. I believe that Kate Winslet has been through this with her daughter? Correct me if I am wrong.

I also have it recorded..... Don't think I'll bother.

I recorded this last night, and was going to watch this evening.
But, seeing all the negative reviews here, I really don't think I'll bother, especially as there would seem to be no explanations as to the outcome.

I watched this and guessed they were making the script up as they went along, it didn’t quite flow right and the dialogue was a bit cringeworthy at times. I agree if the daughter had been younger the story would have worked better. Kate Winslet as the mum seemed immature and clueless, oblivious to the fact that her daughter was being bullied 24/7 even though she could hear her phone going off at all hours. The son seemed more sensible than his mother but the family dynamics were very strange.

I found it quite compelling but it was also dark and depressing. I kept thinking of Ab Fab with all the ‘darlings’ and ‘sweethearts’ etc who talks to their children like that!?

I won’t bother now! May watch H&M instead…….😂

With all the ‘darlings’ and ‘sweethearts’, who talks to their children like that?

I do SachaMac! On other occasions I may call them ‘sweetie’ too or address DH as darling.

Other endearments are available of course.