Last week I watched the last episode of Broken on the TV. I hadn't seen anything about it until I heard an interview about it on radio 4. I was then startled to find it was about a catholic priest in Liverpool.
My comment the next day was terse..."it's about the people and places I grew up with."
I had had my curiosity sparked so I sent for the DVD of the whole series and I watched some of it last night.
The storyline in and around Liverpool took me to the sort of mean shabby streets I lived in as a little girl. The wonderful, ornate church in the middle of the apparent poverty was also typical .
The priest played by Sean Bean is an amazing portrayal of a man of religion working out the calls on him of those in need and showed how he was intent on bringing the knowledge and love of God to his parishioners and into their lives whilst helping them through appalling dilemmas. The story lines covered drug addiction, theft, sex as well as the ceremony of children receiving their first communion.
Watching three episodes after the other I caught a name I recognised....one of the directors was a woman I once knew.
She had been acting in a nearby theatre in Lancashire when I drew up her horoscope!
She has clearly had a very interesting career since...so I was impressed...
The scenes played out were in Liverpool...a place I knew well and the characters were all people I've met in life.
The words of the Eucharist were the same as those I speak regularly...but the familiarity, the portrayal of modern ethical problems made this a series I shall watch more than once.
What an achievement!
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2 comments:
It has occupied an hour of my viewing time for the past six weeks. The stories were gritty and real and Sean Bean's portrayal of the priest doing his best for those in his care and fighting his own demons at the same time was excellent.
Not a pretty series but with a good grip on reality.
I haven't seen any of them but am going to down load the series soon. Will be interesting to see how a Priest in an urban deprived area lives out his faith, without the support of a spouse and family. My own memories as a Catholic child in East London might hurt a bit.
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