Emma Thompson and Jason Watkins deliver performances so raw and soul-shattering that critics warned it might be too painful to endure. Thompson embodies a woman whose quiet resilience finally buckles under unimaginable loss, while Watkins counters with a portrayal so heartbreakingly human it lingers long after the credits.
This hidden British gem has been hailed as one of Netflix’s most powerful dramas — a story that leaves viewers broken, moved, and unable to look away. Fans describe it as “compelling,” “unforgettable,” and “the kind of masterpiece you only survive once.”
But now, Netflix is pulling it from the library within days — sparking outrage from audiences who insist it’s the one drama they’ll regret missing for the rest of their lives.
You have just days left to watch “compelling” British legal drama before it leaves UK streamer
Emma Thompson stars in The Children Act.
Emma Thompson’s British legal drama The Children Act is set to leave a UK streaming service in the coming days.
Based on Ian McEwan’s 2014 novel of the same name, the film stars Thompson as a High Court judge who is given a case where doctors want to perform a blood transfusion on a 17-year-old Jehovah’s Witness (Fionn Whitehead).
The synopsis reads: “Judge Fiona May must race against the clock to determine the fate of a teenage boy in need of a lifesaving blood transfusion, stretching her life and her fractured marriage to breaking point.”
The legal drama is scheduled to leave BBC iPlayer on Thursday, meaning fans of Thompson have just days left to stream the film for free in the UK.
Vulture described the drama as “compelling” adding: “No one gives better pensive gaze here than Thompson; the drama lies in the fallibility of even the most competent and well-intentioned among us.”
“The Children Act feels utterly of a piece with the original book: urbane, understated, handsomely realized and impeccably interpreted by a cast of superb actors,” wrote The Washington Post.
“This film adaptation never reaches the intimate heights of Ian McEwan’s novel,” penned Rolling Stone. “But Emma Thompson’s portrait of a family court judge who lets the world in at the cost of losing her own judgment is acting of the highest order.”
The Observer penned: “Equally comfortable on both stage and screen, Emma Thompson brings an added value to the mix that literally saves the film and keeps the viewer awake.”
“Another reminder, if one were needed, of the subtlety and skill of Emma Thompson’s stratospheric talent,” said Empire Magazine.
However, not everyone agreed with this take, with The Boston Globe writing: “The Children Act isn’t all that interesting a movie, despite the many talented people involved and the generally high level of work they do.”