''Harry's Game'' is a British television drama mini-series made by
Yorkshire Television
ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...
for
ITV in 1982, closely based on the 1975 novel ''Harry's Game'' by
Gerald Seymour, a journalist. Apart from brief scenes, it is set in and around
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
during
the Troubles
The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...
.
Its lead actors were
Ray Lonnen,
Derek Thompson and
Benjamin Whitrow. The series was well-received, and added to the channel's reputation for producing quality TV drama.
The drama is noted for its closing music, "
Theme from ''Harry's Game''", by the Irish musical group
Clannad
Clannad () were an Irish band formed in 1970 in Gweedore, County Donegal, by siblings , and (Moya) (in English, Brennan) and their twin uncles Noel and (Duggan). They have adopted various musical styles throughout their history. Beginn ...
. The music was used in trailers and later commercially released, reaching the top five of Irish and British singles charts, bringing the band its first major international exposure.
The drama, filmed in
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
and the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
has been released under five other names in other countries.
Synopsis
The British government
cabinet minister
A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...
Henry Danby is killed by an
IRA gunman, Billy Downes, in front of his wife and children outside his home in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. Downes then escapes to
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
. Army officer Harry Brown is sent undercover into Belfast's Catholic community to track down the assassin. Brown is chosen for the mission because he is an
Ulster
Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
man who has previously done similar work in
Oman
Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...
.
Given the cover identity of
merchant seaman Harry McEvoy, he finds lodgings in the
Falls Road area and secures a job in a scrapyard. He dates a Catholic, Josephine Laverty, and unknowingly encounters Downes in a local club, which is raided by the British Army. A British soldier recognises Harry but ignores him and arrests Downes, who is interrogated but set free. Harry tips off his superiors that the killer was at the club and that Theresa, a girl at whose family home Billy stayed the night while on the run, knows his name. Theresa is arrested, but caught between the police interrogator Rennie and her fear of the IRA if she talks, she hangs herself in prison without revealing Downes' identity. When Josephine realises that Harry must have passed on the information about Theresa, she tells him to leave while he can, but he refuses, saying Danby's killer cannot be allowed to get away with the murder.
At a restaurant in Belfast, a waiter overhears two senior army officers discussing Harry's presence in the city, and passes this information on to the IRA. The local IRA leaders start checking all new arrivals, including Harry.
The IRA start to hunt Harry down. With two other gunmen, Downes
ambush
An ambush is a surprise attack carried out by people lying in wait in a concealed position. The concealed position itself or the concealed person(s) may also be called an "". Ambushes as a basic military tactics, fighting tactic of soldi ...
es Harry, who shoots the gunmen and forces a passing driver to chase their car as Downes escapes. Harry follows Downes to his own home, which is under surveillance by the army. Harry shoots Downes in the street in front of his wife before being shot himself by the soldiers watching the house, believing Harry to be a member of the IRA. Injured and bleeding in the street, Harry is confronted by Downes's wife, who then shoots him in the head using Harry's own revolver.
The series closes with a narrator reading a part of a poem written by the daughter of real-life IRA victim
William J. Staunton, a 46-year-old magistrate shot dead in 1973: "Don't cry, Mummy said. They're not real, but Daddy was, and he's not here. Don't be bitter, Mummy said. They've hurt themselves much more. They can walk and run, Daddy can't."
Cast
*
Ray Lonnen as Harry Brown
*
Benjamin Whitrow as Davidson
*
Nicholas Day as Bannen
*
Geoffrey Chater as Col. George Frost
*
Sean Caffrey
Sean Caffrey (15 April 1940 – 25 April 2013) was an actor from Northern Ireland.''The Stage'' described him as "part of a generation of actors that came out of Northern Ireland in the 1960s to find prominence on British television," and the ''B ...
as Insp. Howard Rennie
*
Derek Thompson as Billy Downes
*
Ian Bleasdale as Waiter
*
Tony Rohr as IRA Brigade Commander
*
Linda Robson as Theresa McCorrigan
*
Charles Lawson
Quintin Charles Devenish Lawson (born 17 September 1959) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He is best known for playing Jim McDonald (Coronation Street), Jim McDonald on the long running ITV (TV network), ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''.
...
as Seamus Duffryn
Production
Locations
Most of the time filming was spent in
Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
, in Yorkshire, England, on now-demolished housing of Meanwood and at
Leeds Studios. This stood in for Northern Ireland.
The rest of footage, filmed in Ireland, include shots of the
Falls Road, broader views as where Harry is frisked on entry to Belfast city centre (there was a permanent checkpoint for pedestrians there for many years) and the final scenes overlooking the cityscape were in
Holywood,
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...
and close to the military/MI5 barracks. Scenes were also filmed in South
County Dublin
County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...
including in
Ballybrack
Ballybrack () is a residential suburb of Dublin, in the south of County Dublin. It is in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. It is southwest of Killiney, northeast of Loughlinstown, east of Cabinteely and north of Shankill.
Population
T ...
.
Music
Clannad
Clannad () were an Irish band formed in 1970 in Gweedore, County Donegal, by siblings , and (Moya) (in English, Brennan) and their twin uncles Noel and (Duggan). They have adopted various musical styles throughout their history. Beginn ...
's closing music became an international breakthrough.
Incidental music was sampled or created by
Mike Moran. Additionally, the music found continued success through a sample used in the hit single
"Saltwater" by the musician
Chicane (musician)
Nicholas Bracegirdle (born 28 February 1971), known professionally as Chicane, is an English musician, DJ, composer, songwriter, and record producer. Among his works are Single (music), singles "Offshore (song), Offshore", an Ibiza Trance musi ...
.
Broadcast and distribution history
The series screened on the
ITV network as three 52-to-54 minute episodes over consecutive nights from 25 to 27 October 1982, and was later edited into a single 130-minute programme titled ''Harry's Game – The Movie''.
;Outside of Britain and Ireland
*The film was not widely seen in the US or widely available on video; sold in Canada titled ''Belfast Assassin''. The original, unedited three-part serial was released on DVD in the United Kingdom in 2005.
*The box set of DVDs has been distributed in the Netherlands and Belgium.
*In Finland it has featured as ''Ajojahti'' (''Chasing'') and ''Vastaisku'' (''Retaliation'').
*In France Harry's Game was released in 2008. Its DVD bears title ''Le tueur de Belfast'' (''The Belfast Killer'').
*In Germany it was released before unification of Germany as ''Das tödliche Patt'' (''The Deadly Stalemate'').
*In Denmark it was broadcast on national television in 1983 as ''Livsfarligt spil'' (''Lethal Game'').
Character redeployment
Rennie appears in Seymour's other books ''The Journeyman Tailor'' and ''Field of Blood'' (and screen adaptation ''
The Informant'').
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, 0084053, Harry's Game
Television series by Yorkshire Television
Television series by ITV Studios
1980s British television miniseries
Films about The Troubles (Northern Ireland)
Films about the Irish Republican Army
ITV television dramas
Television shows based on British novels
1982 British television series debuts
1982 British television series endings
1980s British drama television series
British English-language television shows