Graham plays Joseph,a Liverpudlian painter and decorator on the verge of a nervous breakdown. In heartbreakingly tender scenes we see Joseph saying goodbye to his young son,whose mother is taking him to live in Australia,and then see him trying to drown his sorrows in a self-destructive night out on the town.
In the vomit-splattered aftermath,the broke and broken Joseph makes a fateful decision:to take a ferry to Ireland to reunite with his sister,who has no idea what happened to him after they were orphaned and split up 30 years earlier. It’s here that Meadows (who directs once more,having written the script withregular collaborator Jack Thorne) really ratchets things up.
Joseph’s sister,Anna,is played by Helen Behan,a veteran of theThis Is England sequels,who delivers a visceral,multifaceted and sharp-tongued performance to match Graham’s. Anna,married to builder Michael (Frank Laverty) has three charmingly impudent children and an increasingly crowded house,given that Michael’s troubled sister,Dinah (Niamh Algar),has also come to stay. Behan and Algar are strokes of casting genius who play off each other in wonderfully sparky Irish style. Also crucial is Mark O’Halloran as sad-eyed construction worker Craigy,who thinks he recognises Joseph from a boys’ home where sexual abuse was rife.
Meadows fairly aches with compassion for his wounded characters,andThe Virtues is especially harrowing knowing that it is inspired in part by abuse that Meadows himself suffered as a child. The aged,blurry visual qualities of the series’ flashbacks to the boys’ home makes that setting seem all the more distant and the characters trapped within it all the more helpless,and original music by PJ Harvey adds to the ominous air.
Meadows doesn’t labour his observations of the past cruelties of institutions and society,and while he chooses to leave us with a ray of hope he makes sure we get some hammer blows to go with it. Outstanding television.
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