Broken is a six-part British television drama series, created by Jimmy McGovern, that first broadcast on BBC One on 30 May 2017. The series focuses on Michael Kerrigan (Sean Bean), the priest of a Roman Catholic parish in a northern English city, who despite suffering from his own troubles stemming from a traumatic childhood, tries to guide several of his most vulnerable parishioners through the trials and tribulations of everyday life.
The series was directed by Ashley Pearce and Noreen Kershaw; while Shaun Duggan, Colette Kane and Nick Leather all contributed to McGovern's scripts. The series was released on DVD on 10 July 2017.[2]
Bean won a British Academy Television Award for Best Actor while Friel was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
The series, produced by LA Productions, was commissioned in 2015; with filming taking place throughout 2016.[3]
This series was filmed in Liverpool, although the city is not directly mentioned in the series itself.[4] Some scenes are shot in trains, implying that Father Michael commutes between his Lancashire parish and his Irish mother and second-generation siblings in Sheffield. The featured church is St Francis Xavier Church, Liverpool.[5]
The series was originally due to begin on 23 May, but the broadcast was postponed following the Manchester Arena bombing the previous night, and was replaced in the schedules by a repeat of Planet Earth II.[7] This was due to the nature of the storyline in the first episode, which focuses on mum-of-three Christina Fitzsimmons (Anna Friel), who after losing her job, resorts to keeping her mother's death a secret in order to continue claiming her state pension.[8]
Comment by Frankiegoestohalewoo: "The church is Saint Francis Xzavier (sic!) in Everton, on Merseyside."