Life cut tragically short
FOR most of its opening hour or so, BBC1’s feature-length drama ANTHONY (8.30pm) is as uplifting, heartwarming a tale as you could wish for. Part-fact, part-fiction, it’s the story of a young Liverpudlian called Anthony Walker (Toheeb Jimoh), for whom life, as he nears his mid-20s, could hardly look rosier.
A happily married dad, he’s smart, caring, hugely popular and dreams of becoming a lawyer.
He has his family, he has his faith, and he’s always looking for ways to help others. In his spare time he coaches a local basketball team.Anthony loves his basketball. Unfortunately, it’s this opening hour that’s the fictional part of Anthony’s tale.There’s every possibility it would have turned out this way for real but tragically we’ll never know.
On the night of July 29, 2005, the real Anthony Walker became the victim of a sickening racial attack. He died at 5.25am the following morning. He was 18 years old.
Written by Jimmy McGovern, Anthony is the story of the life young Anthony Walker may well have gone on to lead.
His mum, Gee, who’s since set up a foundation in his name, approached McGovern with the idea, believing this story of a life unfulfilled would send out a powerful message.
It certainly does.Told in reverse (hence we first meet Anthony at 25), it’s a challenging watch for all the right reasons, making all that unfulfilled potential feel heartbreakingly real.
Elsewhere, tonight LONG LOST FAMILY SPECIAL: BORN WITHOUT TRACE – WHAT HAPPENED NEXT catches up with some of the foundlings whose lives the programme has helped to piece together.
Among them is Jamie Duffy, abandoned as a newborn in the grounds of a hospital in Portsmouth in 1988.Wrapped in a towel and left in a carrier bag, Jamie was discovered by a group of young friends.They thought they’d found a kitten at first.
Thirty-two years on, Jamie returns to the hospital and meets up with one of those girls, Marie
Buckner, who was 11 at the time. It’s every bit as emotional a meeting as you’d expect.
“This must be so strange,” says Marie. “It’s amazing to meet you.”
Pulling out an old photo, Marie shows Jamie the spot where she and her friends found him. Significantly, his mother had left him near the main entrance.
“She wanted you to be found,” she says, “and she did the best she could.” But there’s more.
Using his DNA, the programme has tracked down not only Jamie’s birth mother but also his father, both still alive. “It’s mind-blowing,” he says. “I’d love to be able to meet both of them and talk.”