The Billy Trilogy for Play for Today were highly regarded when broadcast in the early 1980s.
I wonder if the plays would had been so well remembered if it was not for an early starring role for decorated actor and filmmaker Kenneth Branagh.
Set in a working class area of Belfast in the late 1970s. This is an examination of the disintegrating Martin family.
The Troubles is just a backdrop, although the play begins with one of Billy Martin's (Kenneth Branagh) friend Ian talking to a loyalist 'soldier.'
Patriarch Norman Martin (James Ellis) is a violent drunk with a reputation. He works in the shipyards and his wife is in hospital dying of cancer.
Norman refuses to see her. Flashbacks show that his wife was having an affair with an insurance salesman. He was violent beaten up by Norman.
Billy is a teenager, he is a non drinker, has a girlfriend who he desperately wants to have sex with. He too shows flashes of violence when he beats up someone assaulting his friend Ian.
Billy's sister Lorna has to manage the rest of the younger siblings while their mum is in hospital. She also has to deal with the father who constantly comes home drunk displaying flashes of anger.
This is a slice of life drama. I guess the novelty value is that it is set in Northern Ireland and not elsewhere in Britain.
The play is well acted. The standout is Ellis who was better known for playing more genial characters in dramas like Z Cars. As Branagh stated in a special introduction to the plays recorded in 2022. Ellis had acquired a reputation as an actor in theatre.
Branagh himself shows himself as a rising talent. Both brooding as well as vulnerable. Especially when he confronts his father.
A well made drama but the Play for Today strand had done these kind of domestics before.
I wonder if the plays would had been so well remembered if it was not for an early starring role for decorated actor and filmmaker Kenneth Branagh.
Set in a working class area of Belfast in the late 1970s. This is an examination of the disintegrating Martin family.
The Troubles is just a backdrop, although the play begins with one of Billy Martin's (Kenneth Branagh) friend Ian talking to a loyalist 'soldier.'
Patriarch Norman Martin (James Ellis) is a violent drunk with a reputation. He works in the shipyards and his wife is in hospital dying of cancer.
Norman refuses to see her. Flashbacks show that his wife was having an affair with an insurance salesman. He was violent beaten up by Norman.
Billy is a teenager, he is a non drinker, has a girlfriend who he desperately wants to have sex with. He too shows flashes of violence when he beats up someone assaulting his friend Ian.
Billy's sister Lorna has to manage the rest of the younger siblings while their mum is in hospital. She also has to deal with the father who constantly comes home drunk displaying flashes of anger.
This is a slice of life drama. I guess the novelty value is that it is set in Northern Ireland and not elsewhere in Britain.
The play is well acted. The standout is Ellis who was better known for playing more genial characters in dramas like Z Cars. As Branagh stated in a special introduction to the plays recorded in 2022. Ellis had acquired a reputation as an actor in theatre.
Branagh himself shows himself as a rising talent. Both brooding as well as vulnerable. Especially when he confronts his father.
A well made drama but the Play for Today strand had done these kind of domestics before.