A Woman Of No Impotence
What may well be seen as one of the best television programmes of the year aired here on Sunday night. Julie Walters gave a compelling and convincing portrait of a woman racing against time.
Mo Mowlam was that rare being, a politician whom the public held in high regard. Some found her direct, informal approach too strong a flavour, but there’s little doubt that Mowlam’s style was crucial in bringing peace to Northern Ireland.
The drama reflected Mowlam’s people skills, on the one hand facing down loyalist paramilitaries in the Maze prison, on the other charming Bill Clinton. But it also underscored Mowlam’s struggle to keep her career on track while fighting what we now know was a malignant brain tumour.
Amid the drama of peace deals and hospital visits, there were some light-hearted moments. Storming after her deputy, Adam Ingram, she continues an argument with him in the gents’ toilet. Confronting him at the urinal, she suddenly looks down and grins: “Ooh, not bad. Don’t forget to shake it.”.
Some don’t emerge from the drama so well, notably the vinegary Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble and Mowlam’s successor in Belfast, Peter Mandelson. Tony Blair gets it in the neck too, for sending her to take charge of the Cabinet Office - “minister for paper clips”. Putting a brave face on her departure from Stormont, she briefs her staff on Mandelson: “His boyfriend’s called Reinaldo and his dog’s called Bobby. For God’s sake don’t mix them up.”
Yet, as her condition deteriorates, there’s a realisation that her chummy, cheeky persona might be a by-product of the cancer that would kill her. Informed by her doctor that the disease can prompt uninhibited behaviour, she asks: “So, which part is the real me, and which is the tumour?” Finally, incoherent, incontinent, unconscious, Mo Mowlam succumbs to the inevitable.
Julie Walters has confessed she almost turned the role down. Lucky for us she didn’t, as she was predictably brilliant. All credit to her and a superb supporting cast (Gary Lewis as the smouldering Scotsman Ingram in particular).Over 3 million people watched the programme, an eight-year record for a Channel 4 drama. If this doesn’t win every award going, there ain’t no justice in tv-land.
Mo Mowlam was that rare being, a politician whom the public held in high regard. Some found her direct, informal approach too strong a flavour, but there’s little doubt that Mowlam’s style was crucial in bringing peace to Northern Ireland.
The drama reflected Mowlam’s people skills, on the one hand facing down loyalist paramilitaries in the Maze prison, on the other charming Bill Clinton. But it also underscored Mowlam’s struggle to keep her career on track while fighting what we now know was a malignant brain tumour.
Amid the drama of peace deals and hospital visits, there were some light-hearted moments. Storming after her deputy, Adam Ingram, she continues an argument with him in the gents’ toilet. Confronting him at the urinal, she suddenly looks down and grins: “Ooh, not bad. Don’t forget to shake it.”.
Some don’t emerge from the drama so well, notably the vinegary Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble and Mowlam’s successor in Belfast, Peter Mandelson. Tony Blair gets it in the neck too, for sending her to take charge of the Cabinet Office - “minister for paper clips”. Putting a brave face on her departure from Stormont, she briefs her staff on Mandelson: “His boyfriend’s called Reinaldo and his dog’s called Bobby. For God’s sake don’t mix them up.”
Yet, as her condition deteriorates, there’s a realisation that her chummy, cheeky persona might be a by-product of the cancer that would kill her. Informed by her doctor that the disease can prompt uninhibited behaviour, she asks: “So, which part is the real me, and which is the tumour?” Finally, incoherent, incontinent, unconscious, Mo Mowlam succumbs to the inevitable.
Julie Walters has confessed she almost turned the role down. Lucky for us she didn’t, as she was predictably brilliant. All credit to her and a superb supporting cast (Gary Lewis as the smouldering Scotsman Ingram in particular).Over 3 million people watched the programme, an eight-year record for a Channel 4 drama. If this doesn’t win every award going, there ain’t no justice in tv-land.