A one-off daytime drama in which a teenager’s world is upended by family secrets and his mother’s illness.
The life of 19-year-old Elliott Conroy (Nicholas Shaw) is thrown into turmoil by two crushing revelations. He learns not only that his mother, Helen (Phoebe Nicholls), has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, but also that the man who raised him, Tony (Phil Davis), is not his biological father. Elliott’s search for the truth is met with a wall of silence from Tony, making the sudden appearance of a mysterious figure from his mother’s past, Danny (Danny Webb), all the more significant. This newcomer seems to possess the answers Elliott desperately seeks about his parentage.
This single play was a distinctive piece of daytime scheduling, a self-contained character study with an emotional maturity not always found outside of primetime. The script by Malcolm Campbell uses its plot revelations as a catalyst for Elliott’s accelerated journey into adulthood, forcing him to reconstruct his identity in the face of two life-altering facts. The production’s strength is its commitment to psychological realism, grounded by a script praised for its authentic dialogue and a set of restrained, convincing performances. Rather than sentimentalising the family’s predicament, the drama presents a sharp, focused portrait of a young man forced to find his own definition of self.
Broadcast: BBC One – Resource Base, 1 Episode, Friday 20 April 2007
Written by: Malcolm Campbell
Director: Beryl Richards
Producer: Hilary Durman
Music: Christopher Slaski
Main Cast: Nicholas Shaw (Elliott Conroy), Phil Davis (Tony), Phoebe Nicholls (Helen), Danny Webb (Danny), Ben Bishop (Mr Johnson), Vera Filatova (Petra), Chandeep Uppal (Anji), Shaun Hornsby (Boy in bar), Tim Plester (Manager), Juliet Ellis (Maya), Bernard Gallagher (Archie)
