A typically uncompromising and hard-hitting drama from Merseyside scriptwriter Jimmy McGovern, one of the best of the early writers on Brookside, and more recently the driving force behind Cracker. In the title role as handsome Cathlic priest Fr Greg Pilkington, Linus Roache (son of Coronation Street star Ken Roache) takes a single leap from BBC 1's ill-fated Seaforth to fully-fledged British cinema star. Not content with torturing Fr Greg with homosexual tendencies, McGovern also has him battling with his vows of celibacy as well as turning mental cartwheels to save a young girl from the sexual abuse of her own father, a secret he has learned through the sanctity of the confessional. Roache copes well with this three-pronged moral dilemma, successfuly conveying his inner torment. Tom Wilkinson, however, takes the acting honours as the benevolent if unorthodox senior parish priest (he sleeps with beautiful young housekeeper Cathy Tyson), while Robert Carlyle, now the star of Hamish Macbeth, is suitably agonised as Fr Greg's lover. Fans of Brookside will see many familiar faces, including Bill Dean (once the miserable Harry Cross) as an altar helper. The language is as earthy as we have come to expect from Mr McGovern, while the sex scenes are tastefully filmed but still quite explicit. Director Antonia Bird showed great promise with this, her first feature film.


©ipc tx. Film content from TVTimes