Anna Maxwell Martin, David Wilmot, Vicky McClure & Daniel Mays To Front BBC IRA Bombing Drama
REX/Shutterstock Philomena’sAnna Maxwell Martin, The Alienist’sDavid Wilmot and Line of Duty stars ..
REX/Shutterstock
Philomena’sAnna Maxwell Martin, The Alienist’sDavid Wilmot and Line of Duty stars Vicky McClure and Daniel Mays are to front a British drama based on the events of the IRA’s 1993 bombing of Warrington.
The drama, Mother’s Day, will air on BBC Two as a 90-minute one-off, produced by BBC Studios and written by Murdered For Being Different’s Nick Leather.
The Warrington bombings saw the terrorist organization plot two separate bomb attacks in the British city, killing two children and injuring dozens of others. The incident also saw the bombers, which were thought to include members of the British leftist group Red Action, shoot and injure a police officer before being caught in a high-speed chase. The bombings lead to mass protests against the IRA in Dublin.
Maxwell Martin, who also stars in Sharon Horgan and Graham Linehan-penned comedy Motherland and Neil Gaiman’s forthcoming series Good Omens, plays Wendy Parry, the mother of 12 year old Tim Parry who died in the attack. McClure plays Susan McHugh, the Dublin mother of two so outraged by the attack that she organized one of the largest peace rallies in Irish history, Mays, who also starred in Rogue One, will play Tim’s father Colin Parry, with Wilmot as Arthur McHugh. Further casting includes Simone Kirby (Peaky Blinders) and Conor Mullen (Red Rock).
The drama, which begins filming in Belfast this week, is directed by Fergus O’Brien (Against The Law) and produced by Scott Bassett (Murdered For Being Different). It was commissioned by Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, and Patrick Holland, Controller of BBC Two. Executive Producers are Tommy Bulfin for the BBC and Aysha Rafaele for BBC Studios.
Leather says, “As someone who grew up in Warrington and was on my way into town on the day of the bombing, bringing this astonishing story to the screen has been a career-long mission. Over the last year, I’ve been fortunate to work with a wonderfully supportive team at the BBC, including the director Fergus O’Brien, and have found the Parry and McHugh families to be even more inspiring than I did as a kid. I hope people are as moved and affected by this drama as we have been making it.”
“It is with great power and poignancy that Mother’s Day looks at how the worst of tragedies can affect both those directly involved and communities further afield, inspiring them to act. We’re immensely proud to tell this story,” added Wenger.
