Alan Plater's last act is drama at its finest

Sep 14 2010 by Barbara Hodgson, The Journal

NEW Tyneside-set drama Joe Maddison’s War airs on ITV1 this Sunday. BARBARA HODGSON sees a preview of Alan Plater’s final drama and talks to actress Melanie Hill about filming back on her home turf with Kevin Whately and Robson Green.

AFTER the lightweight fare of summer, TV viewers tend to turn rather more discerning, and like to cosy up in the autumn with some quality drama.

There are often complaints that good stories are in short supply, but this week we’re in for a warming two-hour treat with North East-set Joe Maddison’s War.

Aside from location-spotting – the wartime drama was filmed across the region – local viewers will be attracted by the fact it was written by Alan Plater, the award-winning Jarrow-born playwright who died this summer.

Starring Kevin Whately and Robson Green, it’s good old-fashioned story-telling – a Second World War tale of friendship, guilt, anger, and a blossoming romance, all classic Sunday night drama ingredients.

Whately plays the eponymous Joe and Green his pal Harry who served with him in the previous war, both still bearing their emotional scars. Too old now for action, they sign up for the Home Guard – but banish any intruding thoughts of Dad’s Army.

There are lots of laughs here but, spanning the years 1940-44, the focus is on Joe’s inner war, raising questions such as, when your domestic life changes, should you try to move on or recapture what’s lost?

Sunderland-born actress Melanie Hill plays Selina Rutherford, the love interest thrown into the mix. Earlier in the year, I watched a day’s filming in Northumberland, where cast in period costumes were acting out a celebration scene inside a village hall.

Local accents were firmly back in place for the lead actors who now live in London, with Whately joking he kept getting pulled up whenever he “goes back to being a soft southerner”.