Teenagers star in new series

Press, 2 May 1984, Page 13

Teenagers star in new series

A five-part serial based on Catherine Cookson’s story, “Our John Willie,” will begin screening on One at 5.30 p.m. today. Set in the mining villages of Tyneside in the mid-nineteenth century, it is written in the best of her tradition.

Two brothers, Davy Halliday and his young brother, John Willie, survive a mining disaster but lose their father and their home. They face the prospect of starvation or the workhouse, until they are taken in by the eccentric Miss Peamarsh. It seems a happy solution until the boys find themselves involved in much more sinister events.

On another level, it is a humanitarian portrait of a deaf and dumb boy (John Willie), and his protective older brother, who fights against the ignorance of the times, to prove that deaf does not mean daft.

David Burke, a 14-year-old unknown from New-castle-on-Tyne, plays John Willie. His preparation for the part included visits to the Northern Counties School for the Deaf in Newcastle, where he joined in classes with deaf children.

Antony Manuel, also aged 14 and from Newcastle, plays Davy. Through his eyes viewers see much of the cruelty of the times — not only towards deafness, but of the conditions in the mines, the harshness of the workhouse and the persecution of men trying to form the first unions. The other star of the show is Bobby, a black and white sheepdog, who plays the children’s dog, Snuffy.