''Recovery'' is a British television film, first broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

in 2007, starring

David Tennant David John Tennant (''né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show ''Doctor Who'', reprising the rol ...

and

Sarah Parish Sarah Parish (born 7 June 1968) is an English actress. She is known for her work on television series including: ''The Pillars of the Earth'', ''Peak Practice'', '' Hearts and Bones'', ''Cutting It'', ''Doctor Who'', '' Mistresses'', ''Merlin'', ...

Summary

It deals with the life of Alan Hamilton (played by

), the former head of a construction firm, after he receives serious personality-changing brain injuries in a road accident, and the emotional feeling of his family. Tricia, his wife (played by

) struggles because the man she knew has gone. Throughout the programme she tries to bring him back through memories, photographs, her sons and herself.

Cast

*Alan Hamilton —

*Tricia Hamilton —

*Dean Hamilton —

Harry Treadaway Harry John Newman Treadaway''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916-2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 10 September 1984) is an English actor known for his performances as Victor Frankenstein in the horror-drama series ''Penny Dr ...

*Joel Hamilton — Jacob Théato *Len Hamilton —

Ron Donachie Ronald Eaglesham Porter (born 26 April 1956), known professionally as Ron Donachie, is a Scottish actor. He is known for starring as DI John Rebus in the BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of the Ian Rankin "Rebus" detective novels and for his supporti ...

*Johnathon — Jay Simpson *Gwen — Jo McInnes *Dr Lockwood — Jim Carter *Vicky Nathan —

Jo Hartley Joanne Victoria Hartley (born 12 March 1972) is an English actress born in Oldham, Lancashire who has appeared in the films ''The Young Victoria'', ''Eddie the Eagle'', ''Slaughterhouse Rulez'' and '' Torvill & Dean'' and in British television ...

Cast Notes

*This marks the third time that David Tennant and Sarah Parish have worked together. The first was the 2004 serial, '' Blackpool'', where David played a DI who falls in love with his suspect's wife (Parish), and the second was the '' Doctor Who'' Christmas special, " The Runaway Bride", where Tennant played his usual role as the Doctor and Parish played a giant alien spider called the Empress of the Racnoss.

Music

* The music was especially commissioned and composed by Tristin Norwell and Nick Green.

Reception

*The

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liver ...

called Recovery "perhaps the best thing David Tennant's ever done." *The Herald called it "one of TV's saddest, most harrowing dramas ever" and encouraged people to donate to the brain injury charity, Headway, whether they had seen the drama or not. *

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

said that "Tennant and Parish made it affecting viewing" and that they also "thankfully avoided the Hollywood trend to use memory loss as a gateway to deeper healing, a little miracle to help us forget our mean adult selves and learn to be innocent again." *

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

said "It wasn't over-sentimental, just believable. And much more powerful for that. Anyone who says they didn't have a lump in their throats is either an unfeeling brute or a liar." *

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

said, "This is sobering, saddening stuff, a tragic portrait of a living hell which, if nothing else, should encourage you to be more vigilant the next time you cross the road."

References

External links

Official Recovery Site
at bbc.co.uk * {{IMDb title, 0847149, Recovery BBC television dramas British television films