Born Equal

'Born Equal' is honest, challenging TV that poses lots of questions without really giving easy answers. But then, with the difficult subject matter, it wouldn't be easy to. This one-off, 85-minute long drama, shown recently on BBC1, followed the stories of ordinary British people affected in different ways by homelessness and poverty. It has been compared to 'Cathy Come Home', a landmark TV film from the 60s focusing on, near enough, the same problems. The film is also of particular interest because the actors improvised their own dialogue, from ideas developed by director Dominic Savage, who has frequently worked in this method.

This film involves the sometimes intertwining tales of a City banker, a Nigerian immigrant family, a released Scottish convict and a pregnant young woman and her daughter,escaping from troubles at home. The latter three of these stories mostly take place in the hostel where the characters are temporarily living.

The actors rise to the challenge of improvisation and still deliver subtle, intense and honest performances. Every cast member is magnificent, with popular and rising British actors filling the roles. Colin Firth is terrific as the rich banker racked with guilt over the poverty he sees every day, and is matched by rising star Nichola Burley and Emilia Fox in his segment. David Oyelewo and Nikki Amuka-Bird are particularly affecting as the Nigerian couple striving to bring a relative from Nigeria to London. The other two stories intertwine more than the others do, and a tale both sweet and tragic unfolds, featuring Robert Carlyle as the ex-con and Anne Marie Duff as the young mother. Both are excellent, with Carlyle balancing the violent and reformed sides of his character in a searing performance. A delightful performance also comes from the young girl playing Duff's daughter.

This piece is perhaps not as gritty as it could have been, but has an uncompromising and suitable ending. The entire piece successfully captures contemporary Britain, with a distinct feeling of the present in its social and political relevance and is a truly moving and challenging experience that can be taken as both excellent TV and something designed to raise awareness of the problems plaguing our country.

Richard Curtis attempts Mike Leigh! It isn't actually written by Richard Curtis but at points it felt like it could have been!

This is a one off BBC Drama focusing on the lives of several characters in central London. It is a feature length drama dealing with social inequality.

There's the Banker with the impossibly large bonus, the pregnant wife and the overly large house, who's conscience is tweaked by a beggar in the subway. There's the Nigerian journalist fearing for his father's safety, and the opulent house cleaned by his partner. There's Robert Carlyle's character recently released from prison and staying in a hostel. There's Anne-Marie Duff's heavily pregnant character and her daughter also staying at the hostel. All of their stories interweave with explosive consequences.

It was very watchable, and the acting from the star studded cast was wonderful. It wasn't as gritty as it could have been. Scars by Leo Regan gives us a better insight into violence, and High Hopes by Mike Leigh or anything by Ken Loach might give more gritty realism and bleak humour.

When initially seeing the advert for this in BBC I was so excited to see such a cast in a TV production which looked like it was going to be amazing.......did it disappoint? Not really....

The acting was superb by all, I honestly can't pick a flaw in the acting from anyone. The concept was great and the story - just as good.

So what's with a 6/10? There is NOTHING I can fault about this show, NOTHING.....other than the end. The whole thing was fantastic, it looked like it was building up to such an amazing end. The 3 different stories all going on at once, all taking place based around these people living in a single hostel. I was expecting these people and their lives to come together, to all affect one another climaxing the plot.....this is where it went wrong. Thi just didn't happen. 1 of the 3 sub-plots (the Nigerian one, starring David Oyelowo) remained completely isolated from the rest. The other 2 sub-plots (Firth's and Carlyle's) come together right at the end.....but too quickly and not in enough depth to please.

Overall it was an entertaining 85 minutes, but it left me feeling.....let down!

Such excellent actors and such good intentions. And certainly important issues. But the stories basically wander and do not convincingly intertwine. A well-off man who tries to make up for his guilt about his affluence; a man apparently on parole who is tortured by what he did and something else which only becomes clear after a while; a pregnant mother escaping an abusive husband; a young runaway. They interact in believable but not ultimately very compelling ways. And it all falls apart at the end. The actors are all excellent and apparently improvised their roles, but it just never jells in the way, for instance, a Mike Leigh movie does. A waste of time overall, I'm afraid.