Published: Thursday, 28th January, 2010 10:24am

Dunbar in Trimble's trademark specs

Comments (2) | Print | Email

Given the political spotlight on talks in Hillsborough this week, the timing for the screening of "Mo", the story of Mo Mowlam and her role in the Good Friday Agreement on Channel 4 on Sunday night could not be better.

Playing Mo is highly respected actress Julie Walters and taking the part of David Trimble is Enniskillen-born actor Adrian Dunbar.

Dunbar is part of a stellar cast, including Gary Lewis as Mo's friend and colleague MP Adam Ingram; Toby Jones as Dr. Glaser; John Lynch as Gerry Adams; Eoin McCarthy as Martin McGuinness and Steven Mackintosh as Peter Mandelson.

Amazingly, the 90-minute drama was filmed over an intense four weeks of shooting.

The story is written by Neil McKay and based on extensive first-hand research. It's a poignant and intimate look at the life of the most popular, if controversial, Labour politician of recent times as well as an inside account of the extraordinary events in Northern Ireland.

It details how away from the public gaze, she found happiness later in life with her husband Jon Norton, played by David Haig, but just months before the 1997 general election, she discovered she had a brain tumour. Defying medics, her brave battle with ill-health was played out on the public stage.

Writer Neil McKay said: "People tended to speak to us pretty readily, because most people really liked her. Most people had stories, some of which were too rude and lewd to publish in print, many of them very funny. Only three people turned us down. They were Alastair Campbell, Peter Mandelson and, unsurprisingly, Rev. Ian Paisley".

A key figure they also spoke to while researching the piece was Mowlam's doctor, Mark Glaser. "That was tricky, because there were issues of confidentiality. But in the end, Dr Glaser was extraordinarily helpful. So there were areas that were particularly tricky and sensitive, but in those particular areas, that's where we found our biggest journalistic scoops - and I think there are some journalistic coups within our drama," said Neil McKay.

Mo is to be screened this weekend, Sunday, January 31 at 9pm on Channel 4.