Brooklyn

(2015) 12 Sunday, 8.30pm, BBC1 The subject of Irish emigres starting over in America has been addressed many times, and in many genres, to mixed effect; one of the better recent efforts was In America (2002), which earned an Oscar nod for Samantha Morton – just as Brooklyn did for Saoirse Ronan, aged just 20 when filming began. As Eilis (above), a young woman finding her way in New York in the early 1950s, she perfectly conveys both the excitement and hope at the prospect of all that this new world has to offer, and a longing to return to the stifling yet familiar life she left behind. Adding to her confusion are two ardent and, in their own ways, equally suitable suitors – Emory Cohen and Domhnall Gleeson – on either side of the Atlantic. Subtle and complex, this beautifully captures both place and period, and Ronan carries it with style.