Waiting for Andre

Need some cheering up? If you have access to Sky Arts then I highly recommend the half-hour short, ‘Waiting for Andre’, which is part of their Urban Myths series of shorts.

In it the writer Samuel Beckett agrees to drive the young Andre Rousimoff (who became famous later in life as the wrestler Andre the Giant) to school every day as a favour to Andre’s father, who is building Beckett’s new house in the French countryside. This is based on a core, true story.

The cast are all terrific, with David Threlfall (Frank Gallagher in the original UK version Shameless) as the laconic, astute Beckett who is in between plays, and Liam Macdonald is fabulous as the young Andre.

But, dear lord, it’s the dialogue and character interaction that is the star – well done writer Neil Forsyth. It provided a constant supply of laughs, along with some touching moments. I really needed that last night.