In this political thriller, an IRA man and his family are forced into witness protection after he betrays his former comrades.
IRA bomb-maker Michael McGurk (Patrick Bergin) decides to become an informant. He is placed under the protection of Callaghan (Elliott Gould), a cynical American security agent, who arranges for the McGurk family to be relocated to Australia under new identities. Along with his wife Eileen (Lisa Harrow), Michael attempts to build a new life, but their location is eventually discovered by his former associates. The family is stalked by a relentless IRA hitman, Brady (Bosco Hogan), who is determined to exact revenge for McGurk’s treachery.
An ambitious international co-production, shot on location in Ireland and Australia, Act of Betrayal was a prestige two-part event. The drama is constructed as a manhunt thriller, but uses that machinery to examine the human cost of turning informant. Patrick Bergin’s performance captures the profound guilt and paranoia of a man trapped between two irreconcilable worlds, while the casting of American star Elliott Gould as the hard-bitten agent signalled the production’s cinematic intent. The serial is a notable example of the glossy, high-stakes thrillers common in the late 1980s, which often leveraged film stars and international locations to attract a global audience.
Broadcast: ITV – TVS – Griffin, 2 Episodes, 18 September – 19 September 1988
Written by: Nick Evans, Michael Chaplin
Director: Lawrence Gordon Clark
Producers: Nick Evans, Ray Alchin
Executive Producers: Graham Benson, Michael Deakin, Sandra Levy
Main Cast: Elliott Gould (Callaghan), Lisa Harrow (Eileen McGurk), Patrick Bergin (Michael McGurk), Bryan Marshall (Kennedy), Krister Greer (Sean McGurk), Bosco Hogan (Brady)
