By Christine Klabacher
BY the time he died, footballing icon George Best had become the target of much vitriolic comment, after being given a liver transplant and continuing to drink.
Sunday's atmospheric drama, focusing on his mother's descent into alcoholism, therefore, provided much food for thought.
Best: His Mother's Son (BBC2) brought to life the era of the Manchester United legend's burgeoning fame in the Sixties, but there was a darkness affecting his family back in Belfast that contrasted with the celebrity lifestyle the footballer was starting to enjoy.
As her teenage son left home and began to hit the headlines, Ann Best took her first sip of sherry. Ten years later she was dead from an alcohol related heart disease.
It was a grim story of a family blighted by her sudden addiction at the age of 44. Michelle Fairley played the role with the eyes of a haunted woman, while Lorcan Cranitch was totally believable as loyal husband Dickie.
As George, young actor Tom Payne suffered from the fact that he is too recently remembered as schoolboy Brett Aspinall in Waterloo Road.
He also struggled with Best's Irish accent, which was never the strident Ulster twang that is more easily imitated.
Nevertheless, the production made compulsive viewing, and raised the possibility that maybe Best never had much of a chance of beating booze.
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