HALLMARK HALL OF FAME: THE BLACKWATER LIGHTSHIP (TV)

Summary

One in this series of dramatic specials presented by Hallmark. In this family drama based on the novel by Colm Tóibín, three generations of Irish women care for a loved one as he enters the final stages of AIDS.

As the narrative opens, young Helen and Declan Breen play on a beach in Blackwater, a small Irish village. Parents Lily and Michael answer Declan's questions about the lightship off shore, explaining that the beacon-baring boat supplements the rays of the nearby lighthouse. Michael then takes a photo of the two happy children.

Many years later, Helen is married with two children, and she sees her husband Harry and sons off for a holiday in Donegal before leaving for school, where she works as a principal. She is visited there by Paul, a friend of Declan’s, who informs her that Declan is in a Dublin hospital and wishes to see her. Paul explains to a shocked Helen that Declan has been living with AIDS for two years and hasn't come to terms with the disease.

At the hospital, Helen greets her brother, and he asks her to inform their mother, Lily, of his illness. The request troubles Helen as she has long been estranged from Lily. He also wants her to visit their grandmother, Dora, who he describes to Paul as “a real paint-remover." Helen subsequently drives to Blackwater in Declan's car, finding pictures inside the glove box of Declan in Paris with Paul, their mutual friend Larry, and Paul's lover, Adrian.

Upon reaching Dora's home, Helen delivers the news, which her grandmother accepts calmly. Dora tells Helen that Lily has been trying in vain to persuade her to move out of Blackwater. Instead, Dora has defiantly made repairs to her residence. Dora also scoffs at a mobile phone which Lily gave her, keeping it in a tin and refusing to use it.

Helen stays in Dora’s house overnight and remembers when she and Declan were children and were left to live there with their grandparents for an extended period of time while their father went to Dublin for “tests.” Declan had difficulty adjusting to the change, but Helen tried to convince him -- and herself -- that their parents would soon come back for them.

The next day, Helen seeks out her mother, interrupting Lily's work day as she trains adults to use computers. After a chilly reception, Helen tells Lily that Declan is ill and drives her to Dublin. En route, Helen hesitantly explains that her brother has AIDS and that he was hoping the family could come together before he dies. At the hospital, Lily is told by Declan's doctor that his immune system has been destroyed and he could pass away at any time. Lily ask the doctor to confirm that Declan is gay, then regards Paul frostily when entering the hospital room. However, she is warm toward her son and offers to take him to her home in Wexford.

Declan surprises both Lily and Helen by saying he would rather go to Dora’s home in Blackwater. The family subsequently drives there and Dora accepts them all into her house. Lily seems uncomfortable, and when Helen admits that she knew about her brother’s sexuality for many years and didn’t tell her, the two exchange harsh words. Helen and Lily go to get linens from Lily's house, where Helen sees the photo from that day at the beach when she was a child, during the family's happier times.

The following day, Larry turns up at Dora’s house to help care for him. Lily seems displeased, but Dora allows him to stay, and he and Helen bond as they assist Declan. Dora bluntly asks Helen if Larry and Declan are in a relationship. When she says no, Dora seems saddened that Declan “has no one of his own.” Soon, Paul arrives as well, and Dora frets over the sudden influx of visitors. Her nosy neighbors stop by to inquire about the newcomers, as well as Lily and Helen’s lives, until Dora shoos them away. Later, at dinner, Dora voices her feelings about homosexuality, but says that nothing shocks her anymore. When Lily expresses consternation that Declan’s friends are staying in the house, Dora insists that they are good company. Larry and Dora get even friendlier as he offers to help remodel her home.

The next morning, Helen explains to Larry and Paul how she felt smothered and restricted by her family as a young woman and finally moved away, later refusing to invite them to her wedding. She flashes back to her childhood, when her father died of cancer and she and Declan were kept away from the funeral and sent to live with strangers while Dora went off to comfort Lily. Separated from her brother, young Helen snuck back into her home and mourned her father alone, feeling abandoned and ignored.

Back in the present, Helen, Larry, and Paul share a lighthearted moment at the beach and talk about their respective families. Lily arranges to take time off from work and commits to caring for Declan full-time, and she and Helen share a brief moment of civility on the beach when reminiscing about Michael and the Blackwater lightship, both of which Lily loved and are now gone. Helen recalls the day when, after her father’s death, Lily took a dip in the ocean for the first time in the children’s memory. Later, when she helps an ailing Declan in the middle of the night, she asks if he remembers that day; he suggests it was Lily's way of moving on, as all people eventually do.

After a stressful night, an anxious Helen calls Harry in Donegal. He reassures her that their children are fine. When she returns to the home, she finds that Declan has taken a turn for the worse, losing sight in one eye, but he brushes it off as “not the end of the world.” Lily muses that Declan was always emotionally engaging and Helen always uncaring, which leads to an argument between mother and daughter. It ends with Helen questioning how Lily could have abandoned her and Declan in Blackwater while their father was dying. Declan pleads with Helen to make up with her mother, as there are “no winners in this situation.”

As Declan grows sicker, Lily becomes resentful of his friends’ involvement, and Paul argues that his friends were there for him when his family was not. He tells Lily that Declan didn’t tell them he was sick because he was afraid of their disapproval. An afternoon outing at the beach ends prematurely as Declan gets the chills. As Larry and Paul help Declan back to Dora's house, Declan says farewell to the lighthouse and stares at the spot where the lightship once stood, knowing that he'll never see them again.

That night, realizing that her children have long felt abandoned, Lily finally reveals to Declan and Helen that she wrote them letters while their father was sick and wanted to visit them. However, Dora prevented the reunion. Helen tells them how she felt forgotten, and Dora and Lily explain that they wanted to protect the children out of love.

Larry and Dora continue to bond as he teaches her to drive, then takes measurements for the cottage's renovations. Helen and Lily continue to repair their relationship as they finally discuss the details of Michael’s death. Soon, it becomes clear that Declan must return to the hospital. Helen and Lily escort him, soothing him with a song from his childhood after Dora bids a tearful goodbye to her grandson. At the hospital, Helen gives Declan a shell from the beach.

As Paul stays with Declan, Lily visits Helen’s home for the first time. She then expresses a desire to be a bigger part of Helen's life. Lily gives Helen the old photograph from their day at the beach, and Helen comforts Lily as she breaks down in tears. Back at the hospital, Declan summons his strength to squeeze the shell, knowing it had once been guarded by the beloved Blackwater lightship. Includes commercials.

("Hallmark Hall of Fame" aired on NBC from 1952 to 1978; network affiliation varies after 1978.)

(Beginning with the live telecast of the opera "Amahl and the Night Visitors" on December 24, 1951, Hallmark has sponsored a series of dramatic specials which, since 1952, has aired under the title "Hallmark Hall of Fame." From 1952 to 1955 Hallmark also presented "Hallmark Hall of Fame," a weekly half-hour dramatic anthology series hosted by Sarah Churchill. The first program, "Dr. Serocold," was televised in January 1952 under the title "Hallmark Television Theatre." This series also ran under the title "Hallmark Summer Theatre" in July and August 1952.)

Details

• NETWORK: CBS
• DATE: February 4, 2004 9:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 1:55:52
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: B:80452
• GENRE: Drama
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama
• SERIES RUN: CBS - TV, 2004
• COMMERCIALS:
  • TV - Commercials - "Hallmark Hall of Fame" DVDs
  • TV - Commercials - Hallmark greeting cards
  • TV - Promos - "Hallmark Hall of Fame: Plainsong"
  • TV - Promos - "It Must Be Love"
  • TV - Promos - "Joan of Arcadia"
  • TV - Promos - "Star Search"
  • TV - Promos - "Survivor All-Stars"
  • TV - Promos - 46th Grammy Awards

CREDITS

• Richard Welsh … Executive Producer
• Brent Shields … Executive Producer
• Heather Ogilvie … Producer
• John Erman … Producer, Director
• Morgan O'Sullivan … Co-Producer
• Andrew Gottlieb … Supervising Producer
• Cameron Johann … Associate Producer
• Shane Connaughton … Writer
• Colm Toibin … Based on the novel by
• John Morris … Music by
• Dianne Wiest … Cast, Lily Breen
• Gina McKee … Cast, Helen
• Keith McErlean … Cast, Declan Breen
• Sam Robards … Cast, Paul
• Brian F. O'Byrne … Cast, Larry
• Angela Lansbury … Cast, Dora Deveraux
• Marijka Bardin … Cast, Young Helen
• Kevin O'Dwyer … Cast, Young Declan
• Frank McCusker … Cast, Harry
• Laura Hughes … Cast, Anne
• Ruth McCabe … Cast, Dr. Louise
• Maria McDermottroe … Cast, Madge Kehoe
• Dearbhla Molloy … Cast, Essie Kehoe
• Barry Cassin … Cast, Father Griffin
• Angela Harding … Cast, Mrs. Byrne
• David Parnell … Cast, Dr. Kerwin
• Macdara O'Fatharta … Cast, Grandfather
• Sean Campion … Cast, Michael Breen