‘This is heartbreaking’: Best Interest viewers praise ‘phenomenal’ Michael Sheen’s performance as ‘tortured’ father singing to dying daughter
- Viewers of BBC’s newest drama Best Interest were left in floods of tears
- Read more: Reality of life for the parents of a severely disabled child
Viewers of BBC’s Best Interest were left in floods of tears last night as they praised Michael Sheen for his performance as a ‘tortured’ father in the heartbreaking drama.
The series, written by His Dark Materials’ Jack Thorne, documents a couple’s struggle as they fight to keep their daughter Marnie, who suffers from congenital muscular dystrophy alive after doctors tell them it is in her best interests to be allowed to die.
Niamh Moriarty, who has a form of cerebral palsy called spastic diplegia, appears as Marnie in the new four-part drama alongside Sharon Hogarty and Michael.
The story follows the family as they go through the difficult legal process and struggle to come to grips with the monumental decision.
The second episode aired last night, with viewers left devastated by scenes which showed Michael’s character Andrew singing to his dying daughter in hospital.
Viewers of BBC ‘s Best Interest were left in floods of tears last night as they praised Michael Sheen for his performance as a ‘tortured’ father in the heartbreaking drama
One person wrote: ‘Best Interests is heartbreaking. Michael Sheen is incredible as always, but the two young actors playing Marnie and Katie are astounding.
‘Niamh Moriarty and Alison Oliver. Names to watch…’
Another commented: ‘Best Interests on BBC is very good but very sad. True reflection of life with child with life limiting illness.’
A third added: ‘Michael Sheen is now in overdrive. The bloke is a tremendous actor.’
A fourth commented: ‘Michael Sheen knocking it out the park in Best Interests. He’s utterly become this character – tortured, pained, conflicted. Heartbreaking.’
Another praised him as ‘phenomenal’, while a different viewer added: ‘Michael Sheen crying is heartbreaking.’
The series explores the rights of children and the UK’s disabled community as it follows the married couple as they are forced to make impossible choices.
In the show, Sheen and Horgan play married couple Nicci and Andrew. They have two daughters – Katie, played by Conversation With Friends’ Alison Oliver, and Marnie, played by Moriarty.
The second episode started with Dr Samantha Woodham visiting Marnie in hospital after she had spent eight weeks on a feeding tube after suffering a cardiac arrest.
The second episode aired last night, with viewers left devastated by scenes which showed Michael’s character Andrew singing to his dying daughter in hospital
The doctor attended an ethics committee meeting to make a key decision on whether to continue treatment for Marnie or not.
Medical professionals explained Marnie was largely unresponsive and had little quality of life, with the doctor saying: ‘In my opinion, any treatment we give her, she is not going to leave the hospital again.
‘She is a kind girl, always funny, always a joy to be around. If we could help her, really help her, we would. But we can’t.’
The doctor went on to meet Nicci and Andrew, explaining that the results of the ethics committee, but Nicci stormed out – saying she had ‘no interest’ in the discussion about withdrawing treatment.
The couple continued trying to support their other daughter Katie and attended her orchestral recital, but ended up leaving when Marnie suffers a seizure.
Doctors were shown assessing Marnie’s condition before meeting with an ethics committee to discuss the benefits of ongoing treatment
Desperate for some kind of interaction with her daughter, Nicci begged Marnie to squeeze her hand, telling Andrew: ‘I can feel her smiling.’
In one heartbreaking scene, Andrew visited visiting his daughter in hospital on his own, telling her: ‘I put together a playlist for your birth, the song as you were born was Your Star Will Shine by the Stone Roses. It was beautiful.’
He then began singing the song to his daughter, and crying as he quietly hums the tune.
He returned home to find his wife had been visited by Brenda Huskins, a representative from a Christian charity.
She insisted the reason Marnie was being denied further treatment was down to the cost of her care on the NHS.
Desperate for some kind of interaction with her daughter, Nicci begged Marnie to squeeze her hand
Brenda said: ‘Your daughter’s life is sacred and medical science has no right to say whether she lives or dies.
‘This is eugenics and it can’t happen. We can raise the resources to fight this case.
‘Once we’ve won, we can get access to the drugs and treatment she’s been denied.’
While Nicci immediately latched onto the plan, Andrew was more interested in how the organization found the family.
The couple leave the house and end up arguing about whether they should withdraw treatment – with Andrew saying he wants to consider it as an option.
The two began arguing, before Andrew packed a bag and said he was moving in with a friend.
His other daughter Katie begged him to stay before he told her: ‘This isn’t cowardice. I love you, I’ll be back soon.’
At the end of the episode, the couple have an explosive argument over whether to withdraw treatment from their daughter
Muscular dystrophy
The muscular dystrophies (MD) are a group of inherited genetic conditions that gradually cause the muscles to weaken, leading to an increasing level of disability.
MD is a progressive condition, which means it gets worse over time. It often begins by affecting a particular group of muscles, before affecting the muscles more widely.
Some types of MD eventually affect the heart or the muscles used for breathing, at which point the condition becomes life-threatening.
There’s no cure for MD, but treatment can help to manage many of the symptoms.
While Sharon said the emotional script for Best Interests, written by disability rights activist Jack, ‘broke’ her when she first read it.
She added: ‘Best Interests’ broke me when I first read the script and then again after talking with Jack about it.
‘COVID seems to have shone a closer light on the desperate inequalities that exist for our disabled community so this felt very timely.’
Previously speaking of the project, Michael said: ‘Jack Thorne is such an extraordinary writer and he has approached this incredibly important and urgent subject with humanity, honesty and humor.’
Moriarty, who plays Marnie, previously said of the role: ‘I didn’t think I would ever get the opportunity to prove myself and my talents’ and called on those casting for disabled parts to use disabled actors.
She told the Irish Independent: ‘I hope that they [young people] will feel seen, because when I was a child, I never saw myself on a screen and I think if I did, it would have completely brightened my world and I would have felt so represented.’
The teen actor, who was raised in Killiney, County Dublin, said it was hugely important to her to get the character’s ‘physicalities’ right.
She decided to try acting aged ten after realising her friends were beginning to take up physical hobbies such as Gaelic football that she couldn’t get involved with, saying: ‘I enrolled in our local drama school. And from there, I started to realise that acting was something that a person could do as a job’.
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