Best: His Mother's Son

Best: His Mother's Son
Genre	Drama
Written by	Terry Cafolla
Directed by	Colin Barr
Starring	Tom Payne Michelle Fairley Lorcan Cranitch Des McAleer
Country of origin	UK
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Colin Barr
Editor(s)	Mark Thornton
Running time	90 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC Two, BBC Northern Ireland
Original release	26 April 2009

Best: His Mother's Son is a 2009 drama television film that chronicles the life of the late footballer George Best's mother, Ann, and her battles against alcoholism that would ultimately lead to her death at the age of 54. The film was originally broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Northern Ireland on 26 April 2009, receiving ratings of 2.74 million viewers.

Best: His Mother's Son was filmed at County Antrim and Belfast in Northern Ireland, the country where George Best was born in 1946. It starred Tom Payne as the title character, with Michelle Fairley playing his mother Ann and Lorcan Cranitch appearing as his father Dickie. Des McAleer was also featured as the Manchester United manager during George's playing career, Matt Busby.

The film looks at the later life of George Best's mother, Ann, who became an alcoholic despite having never touched alcohol before the age of 40. However she became so addicted that it killed her within 10 years. The film focuses upon how much this was influenced by her son's fame and also whether she had an effect on her son, who died in 2005 from organ failure.

The film has been met with controversy, with claims from the Best family that the writers and producers had not been given permission to make the film. George Best's sister gave an interview to the Belfast Telegraph in which she said "Everyone declined to participate in [the filming]. The family was asked but we weren't prepared to give the BBC any information on my mum's alcoholism." Julia told the newspaper that she was also a recovering alcoholic and would have found it very difficult to allow the film to be made. She went on to say "As a recovering alcoholic myself I am totally aware of the need for publicity for this subject, but I totally object to anyone using my family to do it — especially since the three main characters in this drama are dead and can’t defend themselves." Barbara McNarry, the sister of George Best, said that the film's portrayal of alcoholism showed a "simplistic and limited understanding of this complex disease".

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