My Brother Tom

My Brother Tom, (22-23 September 1986), Channel Ten.

Catherine plays: Margaret (Peggy) MacGibbon.

My Brother Tom is quite a cute little miniseries. It originally aired on Channel Ten in two parts, and was based on the book by Australian author James Aldridge, of the same name. I have read the book and seen the series, and it does stick quite closely to the book, except for the ending and a few other little things. The movie also does the book justice, as it is as good as the written version.

Peggy MacGibbon is a 17-year-old Catholic girl, growing up in the Victorian town of St Helen in 1938, just before the start of World War II. The residents of the town itself are divided between the Catholics and the Protestants. Peggy's strict father Lockie (the late Gordon Jackson) is a gambler, the man people in the town turn to if they want to place bets (on just about anything you can think of - boxing, two-up, random events in the street). While Peggy knows fellow teenager, Protestant Tom Quayle (Tom Jennings), it isn't until she almost drowns in the local dam and he saves her life that the two begin to form a relationship. It is a bit of a doomed relationship from the start, with the pair trying to keep their love a secret from those around them, particularly their fathers. It doesn't stay hidden for very long however, and when Peggy goes to watch a fight between Tom and another boy, Finn McCoil (Christopher Mayer), she returns home by sneaking in through her bedroom window, only to find her father is already there and he cuts her long hair off as punishment. Earlier in the movie, Peggy started a fire at her own home so that her father could claim the insurance money, and when the truth about the fire is finally revealed in court, she is eventually sent to the convent at Castlemaine by her father.

I won't give away the ending, but the difference between it in both the book and the miniseries is quite obvious. They are both sad, though I think the ending of the movie is even more so than the book. Catherine does a really good job playing Peggy in My Brother Tom, especially considering she would have still been at NIDA when this was filmed in 1985!

Tony Morphett was involved in the screenplay of My Brother Tom, he was later one of the creators (and writers) on Water Rats.