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Daily Mirror
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Unforgivable start date, cast, plot and how to watch chilling BBC drama
Unforgivable is BBC's new powerful drama that is about to hit screens - and we've got all the detail on how to tune in The BBC is readying to launch a brand new drama that is likely to pull at your heartstrings, given the nature and difficult subject matter at the centre of the harrowing story plot. Unforgivable, is a powerful new drama penned by the legendary Cracker and Time screenwriter Jimmy McGovern and stars Line of Duty actress Anna Maxwell Martin, Emmy-winner Anna Friel and A dolescence child star Austin Haynes. The drama is set to arrive on BBC iPlayer from 6am on Thursday 24 July, with episodes kicking off on BBC Two, from 9pm that same evening. What is Unforgivable about? Set in Liverpool, the production follows the lives of the Mitchell family who have been dealing with the aftermath of grooming and sexual abuse. After serving a two-year jail sentence, Bobby Schofield, the person who committed the disturbing crimes, is released from prison. Bobby is ordered to carry out a residential rehabilitation programme upon his release, to understand through therapy what may have led him to conduct such an awful crime. The series aims to understand all viewpoints and how abuse can impact every single person within a family setting. "Unforgivable examines the extensive ripple effect of abuse from multiple perspectives and how those involved can try to move forwards in the midst of the devastation," explained the BBC. Its synopsis reads: "Having served his prison sentence, Joe (Bobby Schofield) arrives at St Maura's, an institution which offers him a home and rehabilitation after his release. With the support of Katherine (Anna Maxwell Martin), an ex-nun, Joe undertakes therapy sessions in the hope of understanding what led him to commit the abuse." The overview further states: "Simultaneously, his sister, Anna (Anna Friel), is dealing with the enormous impact that Joe's crime has had on her family - her sons, Tom (Austin Haynes) and Peter (Finn McParland), and her father, Brian (David Threlfall)." Who is in the cast of Unforgivable? Line of Duty star Anna, plays the role of Katherine, a former nun who is working at the rehabilitation institution as a therapist and supporting Joe. Anna Friel, of Brookside fame and best known for her role as Beth Jordache on the soap, plays Joe's sister Anna, who is desperately trying to move on with her life while fiercely guarding her two sons. David Threlfall stars as Anna's angry father, who is furious that she has instigated contact with her brother Joe. Other members of the star-studded cast include Adolescence actor Austin Haynes, Fin McParland, Mark Womack, Paddy Rowan and Phina Oruche. With a stellar cast and compelling script, Unforgivable is certainly not going to be a BBC drama you'd want to miss.
Time Magazine
09-07-2025
- Science
- Time Magazine
Earth's Rotation Is Speeding up this Summer. Here's Why
If you're the kind of person who gets a lot done, you're grateful for every one of the 86,400 seconds that make up a day. On July 9, however, as well as on July 22, and August 5, you won't get your full complement of seconds. On these days the Earth will be measurably—and, so far, unaccountably— accelerating its rotation, shaving from 1.3 to 1.5 milliseconds off of the usual 24 hours the typical day gets. A millisecond, or one thousandth of a second, is admittedly not much—an eyeblink takes about 100 milliseconds. But with atomic clocks tracking the Earth's rotational speed so closely that once every year and a half or so, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (yes, there is such a thing) has to add a leap second to the year to account for any increase in the planet's speed, every millisecond counts. So what's behind the sudden speed-up and what effect could it have? The shortest day in history Around the world, there are 450 atomic clocks in operation, tracking the time with an accuracy that sees them gaining or losing only about 1 second every 100 million years. The clocks exist for more than just tidy temporal bookkeeping. Everything from weather satellites to GPS satellites to telecommunications to nuclear missiles and other weapons of war rely on precise timing to operate properly. So when both astronomers and the operators of the clocks notice that the atomic ticks are falling out of step with the rotation of the Earth, people take notice. The shortest day ever recorded since atomic clocks went into operation in the 1950s occurred last year, on July 5, according to Date and Time, when the Earth shaved off 1.66 milliseconds. Three years earlier, on June 30, 2022, things moved similarly quickly, when the day came in 1.59 milliseconds under the 24-hour wire. But with three short days predicted over the next few weeks by astronomers and clock watchers, this summer is something even more rare. What makes Earth spin faster? There are a number of reasons the Earth may be changing its speed this way. But it's not clear yet just which explanation is responsible this time. The likeliest cause is the position of the moon. Lunar distance is an always-changing thing, with the moon tracing an elliptical orbit around the Earth. At its closest approach—or perigee—the moon is only 224,000 miles distant. At its furthest—or apogee—that gap widens to 251,655 miles. On the three speedy days this summer, the moon will be at or near apogee—which is a puzzle, since lunar gravity is such that the Earth tends to slow down, not speed up, when the moon is farther away. The moon's orbit is not only elliptical, however, but cockeyed too, angled anywhere from 18° to 28° relative to the Earth's equator. The sharper that angle is the faster the Earth orbits, with lunar gravity in this case speeding things up, countering the braking effect that lunar apogee usually applies. On the three days in question this summer, the moon will be close to its 28° peak. The moon is not the only thing that can shorten earthly days. Earthquakes can too, redistributing subterranean mass and causing the planet to accelerate or slow down in the same way a figure skater can change the speed of her spin when she tucks in or extends her arms. In 2005, an earthquake in Indonesia shifted the Earth's polar mass about one inch toward the east, decreasing the length of a day by 2.68 microseconds—or millionths of a second. No significant earthquake has occurred recently, however, ruling temblors out as the cause of the current speed up. Does climate change impact Earth's rotation? Climate change—again and seemingly always—may play a role too. Last year, two NASA-funded studies found that since 2000, melting glaciers have caused the axis of the planet—or the centerpoint of its spin—to shift by about 30 ft., changing the speed of rotation. The catch is, in this case the change causes the planet to decelerate, not speed up—by about 1.33 milliseconds per century. If warming continues at its present pace, it is projected to increase the length of our days by 2.62 milliseconds by the end of the century. Other factors, including rising ocean levels and the warming—and thus swelling—of the atmosphere can make a difference too, slightly increasing planetary circumference. Even the springtime blossoming of trees can play a role. 'In northern summer, the trees get leaves,' geophysicist Richard Holme of the University of Liverpool told Live Science. 'This means that mass is moved from the ground to above the ground—further away from the Earth's spin axis.' In all of these cases too, however, the effect is to slow the Earth, not speed it up. So that brings scientists back to lunar gravity as the cause of the current acceleration—and that's a reason not to fret the slightly shorter days. The Earth and the moon have been doing their dance for the better part of 4.5 billion years, and it's always been a stable one. Here's betting they've got a few billion more years yet in their run.
