Best: His Mother's Son

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.

• Terry CafollaWriter
• Colin BarrDirector

• Lorcan CranitchDickie Best
• Luke de WoolfsonDave Sadler
• Laurence DohertyJournalist
• Laura DonnellyBarbara Best
• Richard DormerAd Director
• Michelle FairleyAnn Best
• Stephen HaganSteve Fullaway
• Paul KennedyReporter
• Niamh McGradyMartha Devine
• Tom PayneGeorge Best
• Bronágh TaggartRuby Emerson