Harry's Game The Complete Series [1983]

Gerald Seymour was for many years a reporter for Independent Television News, his assignments covering the Vietnam War, the Indo-Pakistan conflict, the Aden crisis, the Northern Ireland troubles, the Yom Kippur War, and the abduction and murder of Prime-Minister Aldo Moro in Italy. He has written several highly-regarded novels, based on both actual events and first-hand knowledge, such as THE GLORY BOYS (televised as a two-part serial), Kingfisher, RED FOX (televised as a three-part serial), Condition Black, At Close Quarters, The Journeyman Tailor and the contentious The Heart Of Danger (1995), in which both the UN's limitations and legal ineptitude, and several governments' politically-embarrassing shenanigans are exposed as an attempt is made by 'private enterprise' to abduct from Bosnia and bring to a war crimes trial a murderous Bosnian-Serb paramilitary enforcer - an act of 'justice' perhaps, but unfortunately also certain to scupper then-ongoing peace negotiations. The theme of all of these novels is a sad inevitability of troubled but courageous individuals, powerless and marginalized by the merciless grind of 'the bigger picture' going on facelessly around them.Seymour's first novel was HARRY'S GAME, sombre, melancholy and tragic. The IRA send a man to London to assassinate the Secretary of State for Social Services, Henry Danby, M.P. ... on his own doorstep in Belgrave Square, in front of his wife and children. This is viewed as a 'direct attack' on Her Majesty's Government, and the PM - with clenched fists - instructs 'maximum effort' from his cautious RUC Chief Constable and the sceptical GOC Northern Ireland, no stone to be left unturned in the pursuit of this killer. When they have left the Cabinet Office briefing-room, the PM authorizes an undercover operation without the RUC and British Army in Northern Ireland being informed. From an easy posting with Berlin Brigade, enter Captain Harry James Brown (Ray Lonnen) who is to be "put into the heart of Provoland, into the Falls, in Belfast [...] with the express and only job of listening for any word of the man who shot the minister, Danby, three days ago."As Harry McEvoy, merchant seaman, who has been away for over ten years, Brown's unfamiliarity with the Falls, Andersonstown and the Ardoyne is partly excused as he settles into his covert and highly perilous mission. But Ireland has a gift: its charm, perhaps even a magic, has absorbed all invaders and newcomers, from the Norwegian Vikings and Normans of yesteryear down to today's holidaymakers - one easily becomes part of the place. Harry becomes too involved, and this cruel irony is revealed in the final frames ...It still being 1982, and with the wave of hunger-strikes (Bobby Sands, et al) putting Northern Ireland on the headlines of foreign newspapers as well, the outdoor scenes were shot in England, mostly in the run-down estates of Leeds. This was a very good and accurate-to-the-original television adaptation of a thoughtful novel (the later RED FOX was neither as good nor as accurate) that will now seem quite dated - fortunately thanks to the ongoing peace accord efforts. Today it is best remembered thanks to Maíre Brennan's haunting vocals: Irish group Clannad's signature tune 'Theme from Harry's Game' was the first Celtic-vocals song to reach No. 1 in the British pop charts.HARRY'S GAME contains loose parallels with the real-life events of both Grenadier Guards/SAS Captain Robert Nairac, GC's undercover operation (and his brutal murder by the IRA on 15 May, 1977), and the 1979 assassination in the Houses of Parliament underground carpark of Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Airey Neave, MP. Several of the characters who first appeared in HARRY'S GAME, principally Howard Rennie of the RUC, featured again later in Field Of Blood.There have been several more film and TV dramas set against The Troubles in Northern Ireland: CAL, CHILDREN OF THE NORTH, THE CRYING GAME and PATRIOT GAMES, but I'd say HARRY'S GAME is the best. Because in it people die, hope is smashed, and ... nobody wins.Perhaps the tragedy of The Troubles in Northern Ireland can be felt in the rare beauty and heartfelt simplicity of a twelve-year-old girl's poem. Catholic magistrate William Staunton had just dropped his two daughters at their convent school and was watching them from his car when two IRA motor-cyclists came up and shot him. Staunton lingered for three months before dying. One of the newspapers published the girl's poem:'Don't cry,' Mummy said'They're not real.'But Daddy wasAnd he's not here.'Don't be bitter,' Mummy said'They've hurt themselves much more.'But they can walk and run -Daddy can't.'Forgive them and forget,' Mummy saidBut can Daddy know I do?'Smile for Daddy, kiss him well,' Mummy said,But can I ever?

Good drama good quality.

'Harry's Game' is about 'The Troubles, is set within 'The Troubles'-era and -area and takes no stance whatsoever regarding 'The Troubles'. It is a lament against the honour killings, excecuted by civilised people in a civilised society. The plot of HG is a fragment of the chain of revenge and counter-revenge, from which Ulster suffered heavily a few decades ago. HG starts out by Billy Downes (provisional IRA member) gunning down a cabinet minister in a residential street in London. The latter was held responsible for the construction of POW concentration camps. The Brits retaliate by staging an undercover agent in Ardoyne in West Belfast as British intellingence scources reveal the killer to be local. Paratrooper Harry Brown is sent down into Ardoyne to mingle among the natives, being ordered to pick up any gossip which could lead to the identification of the killer. Harry takes up residence in a B&B, takes on false identity and pretends to be looking for work. Eventually he lands a job in a scrapyard which blends him in nicely with his surroundings. Ever vigil Harry succeeds in locating Billy Downes, kills him and is killed by Billy's wife subsequently. No happy ending, but, one may ask, is there an ending? Had this been reality, no doubt ms. Downes would be imprisoned in a matter of minutes, provoking the IRA to excecute yet a new atrocity, evoking British counter action in which people were held at gunpoint too. This domino effect went on for many years and, as I said, HG highlights only a fictional fragment. HG focusses heavily on the personal traumas people experience by living in the heartland of major social unrest. Apart from HG being a statement about Ulster's civil war, it is a sensitive portrayal of human relations and relationships, damaged by a hostile environment.My sincerest compliments go to the cast and everyone else involved in the making of Harry's Game. You all created a superb drama series. If any, this would be one of my desert island discs.

Trata el conflisto norirlandés desde el punto de vista de un infiltrado del MI5. La vi hace 34 años en La2. Muy buena.

Having lived through this period in London it certainly rang true,

Really good movie. I recommend it for anyone else. Best movie about how the trouble of northern Ireland was going through back then.

Eine etwas angestaubte Serie, aber fantastisch mitreißend. Eine schöne Darstellung des Nordirland Konflikts in all seiner Trost- und Sinnlosigkeit. Mann könnte daraus lernen.Aber es ist kein Zeigefinger Kino. Nein es ist spannende Unterhaltung mit Tiefgang, ja so etwas gibt es wirklich....Eine deutsche Tonspur fehlt leider, daher wohl nicht für jeden geeignet, und deshalb etwas unbekannt.

im irish so i loved this dvd