There\u2019s a growing argument<\/a> among newsrooms that limiting information about the perpetrators in mass shootings should be the default approach, partly to avoid giving anyone else similar ideas and partly to avoid the risk of glorification. BBC One\u2019s latest must-see Crossfire<\/a> might be a pure work of fiction but writer Louise Doughty still appears to have adhered to this unwritten rule.<\/p>\n So do the newspapers seen in the harrowing three-parter, which stars Keeley Hawes as an ex-cop who launches into hero mode when her family and friends\u2019 holiday comes under a terrorist attack. Her gun-toting character Jo \u2013 whose fearlessness and steely determination saves numerous lives, including her eldest daughter\u2019s \u2013 dominates the tabloid headlines back home. The two men who turned the Tenerife resort into a war zone, on the other hand, are nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a similar story in the drama we see on screen. When Hawes isn\u2019t pacing the corridors on her rescue mission, we see her husband Jason (Lee Ingleby) frantically searching for the son that got lost in the commotion. We see her best friend Miriam (Josette Simon) giving first aid to a badly-injured staff member. We see her sexting partner Chinar (Vikash Bhai) sacrificing himself to protect the three kids in his care.<\/p>\n Doughty always ensures the focus remains on those caught in the crossfire, and summoning up a tremendous amount of courage in their response, rather than those responsible for it.<\/p>\n In fact, we don\u2019t even see the assailants\u2019 faces, or know how many are involved, until the start of the second episode. During a brief flashback, it\u2019s shown the siege isn\u2019t the politically-motivated work of a militia as perhaps first expected. It\u2019s simply the work of two psychopathic siblings with a grudge to bear.<\/p>\n Crossfire doesn\u2019t spend much time trying to humanise the pair. It\u2019s clear big brother Gerardo (Pol Toro) is a master manipulator: \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for me, he\u2019d have beaten you to death a long time ago,\u201d he tells Flavio (Pol Sanuy) while gazing out into the sea, hinting at the shared dark past that will later come to light.<\/p>\n And the latter does at least appear to have some form of moral conscience, deciding against pulling the trigger on Amara (Shalisha James-Davis) after a frantic bathroom plea. The younger of the two also allows a mother and her screaming baby to walk free. Apparently, some crazed gunmen do have limits.<\/p>\n Having already fired indiscriminately into a family area, though, slaughtering countless innocent people along the way, it\u2019s impossible to muster any form of sympathy. Jo beats herself up for taking a life, insisting she\u2019s not worthy of the commendation handed out by the police force she later rejoins. But Flavia, who also had ample opportunity to surrender before the trigger was pulled, was only ever going to leave in a body bag.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no semblance of a redemptive arc for Gerardo. In fact, he\u2019s only shown to be more sadistic. See the mind games he plays with the group taken hostage in the hotel kitchen, ordering his former employer to choose who gets shot next. And when challenged on his supposed cowardice by another staff member (\u201cWe\u2019re not frightened of you, little s**t. Killing women and children\u201d), Gerardo\u2019s only answer is to blow his head off.<\/p>\n Gerardo\u2019s reign of terror also ends violently when he\u2019s fatally shot by the long overdue armed response unit. And the duo doesn\u2019t get mentioned again, other than in a background TV news report in which you can just about hear more of their backstory: their father is serving an eight-year term for murdering their mother, while Gerardo had previously threatened to kill his former colleagues after being sacked on suspicion of theft. The fact so many people suffered over a relatively petty job dispute only makes the tragedy seem even more senseless.<\/p>\n![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/09\/395290-4b9a275.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>