The Cry (ITV)

The Most Evil Men And Women in History (C5)

ITV's drama onslaught continues, although the psychological thriller The Cry is very different to other recent offerings such as The Forsyte Saga and David Jason's The Quest.

Not only is it a contemporary story but deals with a subject - child abuse - in an uncompromising way that some viewers may find too much to take. Without a leading lady as viewer-friendly as Sarah Lancashire, one of the network's golden handcuffs girls, I suspect this would attract considerably fewer viewers.

She plays child protection officer Meg Bartlet, who's recovering from her daughter being stillborn. Still upset, she becomes convinced that new mother Christine (Emma Cunniffe) is abusing her baby, Eleanor, who suffers from breathing difficulties.

Distraught, Meg attempts to "steal" the child from the hospital in the middle of the night. Her action is covered up by her father, a government minister (James Laurenson) with whom she has a difficult relationship. Her husband (Anthony Calf) simply believes she's acting out of grief for her own loss.

Peter Ransley's script gives Lancashire a meaty role that most actresses would die for. Devoid of make-up (always a sure sign that a performer is being deadly serious), she proves once and for all that the Street's dizzy Raquel is gone forever.

The Cry is superbly done, although a two-hour episode makes demands on the viewer that they might not be willing to make. There are not, as you can very well imagine, many - any, in fact - laughs to be had. It will be interesting to see how many stick with it for next week's concluding two-hour chunk.

As the title suggests, The Most Evil Men And Women In History was hardly a bundle of laughs either. Attila the Hun, Ivan the Terrible and Bad King John feature later in the rogues' gallery. For starters, we heard all about the anti-social behaviour of Vlad the Impaler, the man who inspired the story of Dracula.

He was a "man who excelled himself at devising innovative methods of torture and mass murder". His speciality was impaling. The method was carefully explained. It involved tying the victim's limbs to horses, hoisting them over a very sharp stake and then dropping them on it. A bit like putting a sausage on a cocktail stick, but without the party atmosphere.

His nasty behaviour didn't end there. Vlad often dipped his bread in the blood of his victims, something you won't find suggested in a Gary Rhodes cookbook.

When a group of ambassadors refused to doff their hats to him, he had the headgear nailed to their heads. Nice to know he may have murdered 100,000 people but was a stickler for good manners.