SUNDAY 08 OCTOBER
Drama
What We Did on Our Holiday
9:00pm - 11:00pm
ITV1 London
VIDEO Plus+: 4224
Subtitles, audio description, widescreen
Dramatised by Andy Watts
With Shane Richie, Pauline Collins and Roger Lloyd Pack in the cast, you'd be fairly safe to assume this is a comedy drama. But it's not. In fact this story, based on the novel of the same name by John Harding, is poignant to the point of being depressing. Nick (Richie, with a slightly different haircut from EastEnders' Alfie Moon but otherwise not discernibly different) is taking his wife and parents on holiday to Malta, where his dad, who has Parkinson's (a tour de force performance from Lloyd Pack, whose dialogue consists of unintelligible mutterings and the occasional yell of "Toilet!"), was stationed during the war. It turns out his dad has another reason to be on the island. The cast are terrific, the locations are lovely and there are scenes that will move you to tears - but not of laughter.
RT reviewer: Jane Rackham
Nick Taylor - Shane Richie
Lil Taylor - Pauline Collins
Jim Taylor - Roger Lloyd Pack
Laura Taylor - Angeline Ball
Anthony Spiteri - Rodolfo Corsato
Len Ferguson - David Crellin
Barbara Ferguson - Rebecca Clay
Father Anthony - Manuel Cauchi
Mrs Piscopo - Sheila Reid
Mrs Masini - Sarah Shipton
Tony - Colin Zammit
Tony's son - Matthew Attard
Customs official - Malcolm Galea
Car-hire woman - Maria Pia Meli
.