Radio Times: Review by:; Jane Anderson

If the name of today’s playwright, Tony Pitts, sounds familiar, it’s because he is known for his acting roles in Emmerdale, Red Riding and Scott & Bailey. But he’s also worked as a boxing coach and this deeply upsetting story was inspired by one of the young men he trained. Liam (played with gut-wrenching emotional intensity by Adam Gillen) starts taking heroin when he’s just 16. The drama sees him turn from a young lad weeping in his mother’s arms to a morally vacant shell. Pitts writes with empathy and love, but no misplaced sense of sympathy: it’s quite clear that Liam has made his own choices.

About this programme

Writer and director Tony Pitts' dramatised account of a heroin addict who joined a boxing club to overcome his habit and take control of his life. Starring Adam Gillen, Maxine Peake and Hannah Kew.