Playing Nice will strike fear into the heart of any parent

There’s too much murder on TV. It’s a well-worn argument, I know, but it’s not the violence that I’m upset about. It’s that killings have become lazy shortcuts to creating tension – it’s simply not creative. But ITV1’s refreshing new psychological thriller, Playing Nice, doesn’t pivot around any death. Instead, it deals with a subject matter far less black and white – a stomach-wrenching moral conundrum that will strike fear into the heart of any parent.

In this riveting yet understated drama, James Norton (Happy Valley) and Niamh Algar (The Virtues) play married couple Pete and Maddie Riley, living alongside the blustery Cornwall seaside. They’re a little strapped for cash – Pete gave up his job in journalism to look after their son Theo, who is nearly three, while chef Maddie focused on setting up her own restaurant – but they’re happy enough. Until the unthinkable happens and they are called into the hospital to be told that Theo isn’t their biological child. He had been swapped at birth.

It’s an irresistible set up for a four-parter, and one that throws up countless questions. How did this happen? What will they do now? And the one that eventually propels Playing Nice forward – what about the other child?

It’s not long until that question is answered and a stranger knocks on their door and introduces himself to Pete as “the other dad”. Miles Lambert (a fantastically slippery James McArdle) is nice enough and tells the Rileys that he and his wife, Lucy (Jessica Brown Findlay) want to get to know Theo – and for them to get to know their son, David.

There are stark differences between the two families from the jump. The Lamberts are rich, their house a glass-panelled modern pad among the rugged cliffsides; they have a nanny. They have known about the swap for weeks – David has developmental problems and the DNA mismatch to his parents came up in one of his many tests. While everyone seems to be in agreement that they should keep the toddlers they have raised, it’s clear that Pete and Maddie are on the back foot.

Playing Nice asks us to take sides and – as the underdogs – it’s hard not to feel more sorry for the Rileys than the Lamberts, despite them being in the same predicament. It doesn’t help that Miles starts to act increasingly strange, turning up at Pete and Maddie’s door unannounced, buying a bike for Theo, pressuring them to go on holiday together.

The opening episode ambles along a little but it also cleverly builds on the sense that it’s all going too well for a situation so life-changing and awful. Then, when Lucy and Miles turn up uninvited to a dinner the Rileys are having with their friends, Maddie finally snaps and tells them to leave them alone. Just hours later they are served legal papers by a stranger on a motorbike – the Lamberts are claiming custody of both David and Theo.

Playing Nice is a slow-burn emotional drama that doesn’t rely on pulling the wool over our eyes – that closing twist wasn’t really a surprise, given Miles’s burgeoning creepiness and Maddie’s obvious unease with the Lambert’s apparent graciousness. That it all plays out with such subtlety is down to the excellent performances, particularly from Algar and McArdle, whose true feelings are always just about to spill over and pop the bubble of false niceness both couples have created.

With no murder and no mystery, Playing Nice is a different type of thriller. One that makes you question your own stance on the nature vs nurture debate, on the differences between motherhood and fatherhood, on what you would do in such a horrific situation. It’s certainly a welcome change to the usual detective drivel we get at this time of year.

‘Playing Nice’ continues tomorrow at 9pm on ITV1