Best: His Mother's Son 2009

Best – His Mother’s Son (BBC Two) was a gloomy drama about Ann Best, mother of George, who was strictly teetotal until her mid-40s, when she had her first sip of sherry to celebrate her son’s footballing success. Ten years later, she was dead from alcoholism-related heart disease. The recreation of late-Sixties Belfast was accurate and, thank goodness, intelligently subdued: no comedy Ulster accents and no point-scoring subplot about the Troubles.

Cast

Lorcan Cranitch

Luke de Woolfson

Laurence Doherty

Laura Donnelly

Richard Dormer

Michelle Fairley

Stephen Hagan

Paul Kennedy

Niamh McGrady

Tom Payne

Bronágh Taggart