CARE IN THE COMMUNITY
SEAN BEAN AND ANNA FRIEL STAR IN A NEW DRAMA FROM WRITER JIMMY MCGOVERN…
Father Michael Kerrigan has the difficult job of being the guardian of the faith in a struggling urban parish in the north of England. He finds that many of the people who attend his church are in trouble financially, emotionally, or indeed both. And while he feels compelled to help, Father Michael is also battling demons of his own.
“Father Michael has a very multi-layered and intriguing story,” explains Sean Bean, who plays him, as we join him for a chat on set in Liverpool. “I can identify with all the characters in this, which is a good thing because I’m playing a priest who has to identify with all the people around him. He’s kind of part priest, part social worker and therapist, I suppose, because he’s there to help everyone.”
One of his parishioners is Christina Fitzsimmons, played by Anna Friel – a single mother who works in a betting shop and is saving up for her daughter’s first communion. But then Christina loses her job, quickly turning her life from difficult to desperate.
“Like the name of the series, Christina is incredibly broken,” Anna tells us. “She’s a mother of three who is facing poverty. In researching this, I saw how hard it is for a mother if she loses her job and can’t claim benefits for 13 weeks. She’s got absolutely nothing.”
Father Michael is very keen to help Christina, but as she is driven to desperate measures, will he be able to offer her any support of substance?
“She’s very committed and works really hard,” reveals Anna. “She just falls on very, very desperate times. And he reaches out to her, and is completely unjudgemental.”
Anna and Sean were both keen to be in Broken, as it was a chance to work with Jimmy Mcgovern again, who they knew from The Street and
Accused respectively.
“Jimmy’s still to this day my favourite writer,” enthuses Anna. “And it’s got a political message, so it was a bit of a no-brainer, really.”
“All of Jimmy’s parts are very juicy ones that you can really get your teeth into,” agrees Sean. “There’s no padding, every scene tells its own little story in some way.”
HE’S PART PRIEST, PART SOCIAL WORKER AND THERAPIST” SEAN