Broken

Broken was a gutsy series. It dramatised big themes—conscience, guilt, shame—and, with powerful writing and performances, told big stories about the Church, poverty and abuse. It's made for bitter viewing at times but even at its toughest, there's been a lit candle glowing determinedly at its centre.

Amen, Father Michael, you wonderful priest. And amen, Sean Bean, you wonderful actor.

I recorded this and forgot it for a few months. To be honest I was not expecting much. I recorded it because I find Anna Freil beautiful and she gets better with age. Having been born in a mining town and lived in the North of England all my life I always admire British dramas that 'tell it like it is'. What we have in the UK now is two separate countries and I have lived in both. One is the affluent UK where nobody dares to stray north and lives in a recession free capsule calling the working class lazy and continue to make use of cheap foreign labour to get their cars cleaned and their nails manicured. Then the other UK is what you see in this series. A UK where surviving is a battle as the state keep introducing penalties to drive you deeper into debt and to live on charity. A UK full of loan sharks, predators and pay day loan companies that are allowed to charge eye watering rates of interest. In one generation 'Nu Labour' & the tories have deskilled the British workforce and made us totally reliant on foreign labour. This series perfectly encapsulates both the physical and mental battles that challenge those at the bottom. The frightening thing is now the disabled, mentally ill and other needy sections of society are now being targeted and still the middle classes cheer on this destruction. I worked overseas for many years and did not recognise the place of my birth on my return. Sean Bean has always played good roles and should have had a lot more opportunities in film and TV. His portrayal of a man racked with guilt and shame perfectly reflects what a friend of mine went through when they were abused. There are beacons of hope throughout the series and allude to a once great community spirit where everybody once looked out for each other and helped each other, but as the series demonstrates these are now just glimpses in an industrial wasteland deliberately destroyed in the 80's. This kind of drama is what the UK does best and sits nicely with the likes of Boys from the Blackstuff, Kes & I, Daniel Blake.

This drama is amazing- the writing, the actors,the story line and interweaving of the the theme in the Communion and in the characters lives. So many dramas on T V lack originality and passion but this has both in full measure. It is intense and completely engaging.. The writing is exquisite and the theme music complements the script beautifully.

Sean Bean inhabits the character of the priest- his humanity and spirituality encourages a desire to reconnect with faith at its most meaningful level. He portrays a tortured but beautiful soul. He deserves an accolade for this part along with Jimmy MGovern- one of, if not the best writer and social commentators of our time.

This, so far, is excellent drama. In my opinion, it is important drama. This is the stuff of real life, of the deeply messy confusion of being human, where at best, and in spite of our best efforts, sometimes even because of our best efforts, we are constantly 'off- target'. For the central character in this story, the bullseye is Christ-like love. For others, it is family, children, the job, being able to tell the truth, and not least, being able to survive and navigate one's own conscience, or otherwise becoming a part of the 'banality of evil' by embracing dishonesty. Quite often, if our conscience still has life, we are torn and in pain, as 'we do what we must do', because someone's going to get hurt no matter how we choose. Or we die as we sleep; the sleep that is sleep because we refuse to feel pain, especially the pain of failure. But we all fail, as we are all broken.

This show encapsulates that difficult truth very well. The acting and cinematography is top-shelf (Sean Bean possibly had the wrong calling to become an actor, whilst of course, his priestly portrayal is so good because he is such a great actor) There has been some very provocative writing and some of it will set Catholic teeth on edge. My teeth have so far been far more put on edge by what I strongly feel is the over-use of violin in scenes which could stand well alone without it. And a few small continuity issues. Other than that, I look forward to the next episode of such an excellent, even spiritually provoking drama. Which will definitely not be everyone's cup of tea. but it is certainly mine thus far.

I'm a Protestant Evangelical Pastor and was quite simply gripped by the reality of the pain and emotion woven through this series; from a pastoral perspective it was a master-piece, challenging to any man seeking to serve God..... could hardly watch the final episode at times and that final scene had in me tears