DEAN ROGERS
1 June 2019 • WAR CRY • TELEVISION 3
Past redemption? Philip Halcrow sees a man set out to make sense of his childhood pain in The Virtues
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HO does he think he is? Joseph, the emotionally scarred Scouser at the centre of Channel 4’s drama series The Virtues, which reaches its finale next Wednesday (5 June), has crossed the sea to Ireland and tracked down his long-lost sister. But back in the town where he spent his early days, he is still ill at ease. After his ex moved to Australia, taking their young son with her, Joseph lost his grip. The recovering alcoholic fell off the wagon and went on a drink and drugs binge. When he came round, lying on the floor of his flat, he decided to set about working out what had been haunting him in flashbacks. His sister, Anna, was amazed to see him. He moved in with her and her husband, Michael, who gave him work in his building business. Wanting to confront his past, he broke into the nowderelict children’s home from which he ran away as a nine-year-old. It disturbed him. Joseph is not the only tortured soul. His new workmate Craigy was seemingly caught up in the same traumatic events as him. And Michael’s sister, Dinah, is regretting that she gave in to her mother’s pressure and gave up the son she had as an unmarried teenager. They have all been hurt. And, because the past is painfully present, they still have to decide how to react. Jack Thorne, who co-wrote The Virtues with Shane Meadows, says that the drama’s title highlights ‘the relationship between virtues and sin’ and ‘the way that goodness and badness comes out of a certain situation’. And religion makes its fair share of appearances in the series. The title graphics turn the ‘T’ of Virtues into an image of Jesus on the cross. The photograph that advertised the series showed Joseph cruciform on the floor – an image of suffering. And as the series comes to a climax, a scene from the first episode may come back into the mind of viewers.
Joseph (Stephen Graham) is haunted by flashbacks
As he wandered Joseph and the the streets on his wild night, Joseph heard a preacher agreed preacher’s voice, calling that everyone out: ‘When Jesus says “come to me”, he means needed peace everyone. Sometimes we’re filled with despair. Jesus says: “Come to me and I will forgive you of all your sins. And when you come to me, this is what I will give you instead.” Jesus talks about the virtues.’ Joseph responded: ‘The virtues of what?’ ‘Forgiveness,’ the unseen preacher said. Joseph asked, ‘Forgiving what sins?’ before answering his own question with the traditional seven deadly ones: ‘Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride.’ ‘Every single one of them.’ Joseph and the preacher agreed that everyone needed peace in their lives. ‘Give him a chance,’ the preacher urged Joseph. ‘He’ll never turn you away.’ ‘Not ready for that yet,’ said Joseph. ‘No problem,’ said the preacher, adding: ‘God loves you unconditionally.’ ‘I know,’ said Joseph. Joseph lives in a world – as we all do – where goodness and badness can come out of a variety of situations and where badness sometimes even dresses itself up as goodness. Should anyone show forgiveness? Can anyone know forgiveness? The street preacher’s assurance echoes something Jesus said: ‘I will never turn away anyone who comes to me’ (John 6:37 Good News Bible). People who follow those words say that forgiveness for us is a possibility – by virtue of what Jesus did on the cross.