Acorn TV’s Surrogacy Drama “The Nest” Is a Tale of Power, Need and Deception
Acorn TV’s The Nest is a powerful, clever, drama, brilliantly acted, that has a lot to say about issues of class, privilege, parenthood, and redemption. While it's a story that's full of surprises, it can be a bit overly dramatic and sensational at times, but it’s still worth the watch.
Dan (Martin Compston, Line of Duty) and Emily (Sophie Rundle, Gentleman Jack, Bodyguard) are a well-heeled Glasgow couple who has everything—well, almost everything. He’s a self-made man, a property developer who’s risen from his working-class background to be a successful - and wealthy - businessman. He looks after his own, supporting his sister and her family, as well as giving back to the community. Emily has a lovely job as a music teacher. Their house is a miracle of engineering perched on the Firth of Clyde, and functions as a chilly, exposed character in the series. If the house itself is a nest, it’s that of a bird of prey’s, not a haven of cozy warmth.
Emily literally bumps into teenage Kaya (Mirren Mack) in a dodgy part of town and the girl stubbornly and successfully inveigles her way into the couple’s life. We know almost immediately that Kaya is damaged, a mix of fragility, ambition, and hard-headedness. In the first of several head-smacking coincidences, she happens to be at the hospital where Dan’s sister Hilary (Fiona Bell) has a miscarriage—losing one of Emily’s dwindling stock of embryos. We learn that Emily has struggled with infertility for years, and it’s the flaw in her otherwise seemingly perfect life. So when Kaya offers to become her surrogate, Emily jumps at the chance. And because Emily wants it so badly, Dan agrees, thus beginning a complex exchange of power between the three protagonists.
