Parents' Guide to

Thirteen

By Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

British kidnapping drama is talky but absorbing for adults.

TV BBC America Drama 2016
Thirteen Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

  • Thirteen screenshot 1
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Community Reviews

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age 14+

Based on 2 parent reviews

ironflowers
ironflowers Adult
May 12, 2020
age 15+

CSM’s review is noticeably incomplete

Mostly writing this review to say that while Common Sense Media is pretty accurate with the age rating, their review seems oddly incomplete as if the reviewer stopped watching after the first episode or so... there’s definitely stronger language than what’s mentioned (several F words), references to pregnancy and miscarriage, characters being held at gunpoint, a car crash, bloody injuries in several situations, a character being tied up, a character being slammed against a wall, fairly detailed descriptions of a murder, a couple shown very vigorously having sex for a few seconds (no nudity but still would have thought it would at least be mentioned), some very creepy behaviour from the kidnapper (a lot of uncomfortable stroking, drugging her, making her undress in front of him etc) and probably several more things that I was fully expecting to come up in the average Common Sense Media Review, but didn’t... at this point you’d be better off reading the IMDB parental guide if you wanted an accurate idea of what content is actually in the show, but I thought I’d leave this here just so people don’t have to go into it completely unprepared! As for an actual review of the series, I personally enjoyed it! Some aspects seemed a bit far-fetched even to a person who has little knowledge of how the police force operates (and was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt because of that), some of the romantic subplots/general character drama seemed a bit cliche and/or not developed enough for me to personally care about it, and the ending was more abrupt than I expected it to be but overall I enjoyed it and thought the acting and general execution of it was, on the whole, really good! I keep going back and forth between giving it 3 stars or 4, so I guess 3.5 might be a good compromise?
CSMContentDefault
CSMContentDefault Adult
April 1, 2019
age 13+

love this

i really do recommend this
See all 2 parent reviews

What's the Story?

THIRTEEN years ago, 13-year-old Ivy Moxham was kidnapped. Now a young woman (Jodie Comer) claiming to be Ivy has reappeared -- and thrown the world, and her own family, into chaos. Ivy has few details about her kidnapping, kidnapper, or imprisonment to tell investigators Elliott Carne (Richard Rankin) and Lisa Merchant (Valene Kane), and what she does have to say doesn't make a lot of sense. Her sister Emma (Katherine Rose Morley) suspects that this isn't really her sister; her mother Catherine (Natasha Little) and father Angus (Stuart Graham) refuse to believe anything else. Ivy's old boyfriend Tim (Aneurin Barnard) finds himself bewildered by the changes in Ivy yet captivated by her strange charms. And as the police chase her kidnapper, the answers seem to keep getting further away.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (2):
Kids say: Not yet rated

Creepy, measured, and mesmerizing, this drama takes a clichéd premise and makes it fresh and absorbing with finely drawn characters played by magnetic actors. Missing children and women-in-peril stories are crime-drama staples, and even the makers of rote TV police procedurals know that an easy way to grab viewers is to present a pretty young thing in peril with a tearful family praying for her safe return.

But there's more at work here. Thirteen takes the time to acquaint viewers with characters, chiefly Ivy, a bundle of twitching nerves whose haunted eyes speak volumes about the damage she's suffered, even if it takes investigators some time to work out how. Plot points are doled out slowly -- the drama thankfully lacks the cliffhanger-before-each-commercial-break structure of American TV shows -- and viewers who like a more slam-bang type of plotting may find the whole thing talky. But viewers with a bit of patience will enjoy watching the Ivy's puzzles unfold slowly, realistically, and with mounting menace.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Crime is a staple of TV drama. Why? Why do viewers like to watch stories about violent acts? What impact does watching stories about crimes have on viewers, especially young viewers?

  • Death is often glossed over in movies and on TV shows -- a character dies, but we don't see the effect of that death on loved ones and family members. Why is that choice made? Does this describe Thirteen? Does the realism of this series make more of an emotional impact on viewers?

TV Details

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