Michael Sheen’s performance as the creator of the NHS Aneurin Bevan here is, fittingly, a triumph against the odds. The Welsh Labour MP known as ‘Nye’ faced down doctors, oppositional Tories led by Churchill, and sceptics in his own party to bring in our universal healthcare system in 1948.
Sheen, by turn, is battling a lumpy and obvious script by Tim Price and the challenges of Nye’s stutter, schoolboyish zeal and “f***ing stupid hair”. He’s also barefoot and in podgily unflattering pyjamas throughout, like a soft toy bought in haste in a hospital gift shop.
