Abandoned by his mother, illegitimate baby Patrick is whisked into Ma Braden's foster home by his father, the local parish priest (Neeson). He grows up in the small Irish town with a fertile imagination - and a penchant for women's clothes.

His best friends are misfits too – a black girl, a Down's syndrome boy, and a lad being swept up in the tide of revolution and unrest.

After driving his elders to distraction, 'Kitten' (nee Patrick) takes to the road to find his real mother. Which is where his adventures really begin.

Travelling glam-rocker Billy Hatchet (musician Gavin Friday) takes a shine to Kitten, but his band aren't impressed and Billy's other 'associates' turn out to be even less friendly.

Life in Ireland is just too 'serious' for a frivolous soul like Kitten, so he goes to London seeking happiness, acceptance and his Mammy. He finds all of them... in small doses.

Like its transvestite hero/ine, the movie flirts with fantasy (two robins comprise the cute chorus) and floats through each tragi-comic episode with a hopeful outlook.

It also captures the colour of the times perfectly with gruesome fashions and an era-defining soundtrack.

But Jordan maintains a firm grip on reality, with Kitten undertaking his odyssey against the backdrop of ever-escalating IRA activity.

The peripheral characters are well cast: Neeson's shameful but essentially decent Father, Rea as a lonely magician, Bryan Ferry as a sleazy kerb-crawler, Ian Hart as a bad cop turned good and Brendan Gleeson as an angry womble (you’ll see).

Murphy makes a perfect Kitten - vulnerable, mischievous, loving and curious. However, he does succumb to many of the stereotypes affected by transvestites in the movies (why do they always seem to be above everyone else?). William Hurt's Oscar-winning work in Kiss Of The Spider Woman is still the benchmark for this kind of role.

Distractingly, Murphy's Kitten also looks remarkably like the cross-dressing one in Gremlins.

Elliott Noble