Is child abduction a suitable subject for TV drama?

The opening episode of BBC One drama The Missing was praised by critics, but also sparked a fierce debate with some viewers saying that the subject matter - a young child being abducted while on a family holiday abroad - made the series too distressing to watch.

Is this there something fundamentally different about this subject matter? Is it harder to watch when the focus is child abduction than, say, murder? TV writer Lisa Holdsworth and professor of criminology David Wilson debate.