A C4 TV drama of epic proportions�
Superbly-starring TIMOTHY SPALL, LESLEY MANVILLE, GEORGE COLE & ANNETTE CROSBIE
Heartbreaking Emo-drama at its most crucifyingly intense and sensationally believable, �BODILY HARM� boasted Timothy Spall�s weighty-not-small acting talents as a mild-mannered family man who�s life is shattered by various �pure coincidences.� As displeased as he is at turning 44, he - post-B-day-blues - then witnesses first-hand his wife getting big licks off some random bloke which drives him to trash the guy�s 4x4. So when Mitchell (Spall) learns his dad (played by ex-�Minder� man George Cole) is dying, he�s driven thus to the brink of unfair despair, not realising his mum (One Foot in The Grave�s Annette Crosbie) plans to take her own life and die by his father�s side. Such heavyweight issues in Bodily Harm�s substance do mean it�s hard-going and downright depressing and tortuous going through the motions with poor Mitchell, and yet the style in the story�s genius presentation fails to suffer as the often flashily inter-cut camerawork and pounding in-ya-face visuals smother an intoxicatingly surreal and whimsical edge to everything. His bastard of a dad breaks Mitchell�s heart by saying he was an accident, before admitting that he was hugely jealous of all the love and devotion his mother drip-fed Mitch, and as the shock of the seemingly stable family unit collapsing around him unavoidably becomes too much to bear - with nothing he can do about it - the descent into denial sees Spall make the most of his character�s most babyish and bashful insecurities. Yet one suckerpunch of the trauma could have been lessened, as Mitch discovers his parents side by side on the floor of their house after over-dosing themselves to their well-intended and purposeful deaths� but his dad�s still alive in tragic �Romeo and Juliet� style miscalculation!! If you�ve experienced grievous mental bereavement at first hand, the scene in the morgue when Mitch demands to see his mum before scalping his own head of hair as an offering to her (because she�d always liked to stroke it) in this like-little-you-have-seen-before drama might verge on being just too realistically withdrawn to watch�. And while the end would have obviously had the most impact if Mitch did actually drive his semi-estranged wife and daughter off Tenby cliffs, the fact he comes round and emergency stops right on the edge to cliff-hang proves that there is hell of a lot to be sucked out of remaining life after others� unfortunate deaths. (STEVE RUDD)