THE two bomb blasts in Bridge Street are a horrific reminder of what happened.

Seeing 12-year-old Tim Parry covered head to toe in bandages with ‘battlefield injuries’ is deeply shocking.

But what will break your heart in BBC’s Mother’s Day are the simple words of a child.

Sue McHugh (Vicky McClure) stares aghast at the TV news report at her home in Dublin when her son Charlie asks if the victims of the Warrington bomb did anything wrong.

That is the moment that crystallises the issue in this powerful drama, written by former Newton resident Nick Leather.

READ MORE > Wendy Parry on the family got involved in the drama

READ MORE > Why writer believed bombing story had to be told

The absurdity that two innocent boys from Warrington – Tim and three-year-old Johnathan Ball – could be caught up in the Troubles which was completely detached from their everyday lives.

That feeling was not lost on thousands, on both sides of the Irish Sea, after the barbaric attack and it still has a sting to it in this film.

Director Fergus O’Brien pulls no punches in showing the impact of the bombs, both literally and emotionally.

All of the drama was filmed in Northern Ireland due to budget restraints so any Warringtonian will spot that Bridge Street does not look right.

But this does not detract from the haunting opening scenes.

This is a factual drama so you know what is going to happen but it still cuts through you when the first bomb goes off and you see Tim (Adam Mitchell), dazed and panic-stricken, before he was gravely injured by the second bomb a minute later.

The terror of these scenes in the context of a drama make you wonder what you would do if you were the parent in that scenario. What the Parry and Ball families went through is unimaginable.

But Colin and Wendy Parry’s dignity and the way they responded with a desire for peace and reconciliation rather than descending into anger and bitterness so that Tim’s death was not in vain is as inspiring now as it was 25 years ago.

Warrington Guardian:

In Mother’s Day, the couple are portrayed brilliantly by Daniel Mays and Anna Maxwell Martin who have convincing on-screen chemistry thanks to working together previously on BBC’s White Girl.

As Colin and Wendy, their faces turn to stone when processing the loss of Tim and, as a father of a 12-year-old, Mays admitted it was difficult to not get emotionally drawn into the project.

The film also flashes back on numerous occasions to Tim as a baby which adds even more poignancy and hits home the innocence lost.

Writer Nick Leather wanted to tell two sides to the story so that is where Sue McHugh comes in, an ordinary mum who was so outraged by the deaths of Johnathan and Tim that she organised one of the largest peace rallies in Irish history.

Leather and O’Brien do not sugar-coat this part of the true story showing the pressure Sue was under from her own community for making a stand on, what was at the time, a deeply complex, sensitive and longstanding issue.

Warrington Guardian:

Vicky McClure is unrecognisable as Sue who reaches out across the political divide and comes to embody the feeling that ‘enough is enough’.

Twenty-five years have passed since this devastating tragedy and although it is still raw for Warrington many others will not know of what happened.

So in a way the timing is perfect for the film as a way to keep Tim’s legacy and the work that has followed, including The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace and the incredible Peace Centre, alive.

As Colin said at Tim’s funeral: “If my son becomes a symbol of peace and gives everyone a sense of hope after so much tragedy, that will be Tim’s unique achievement.”

Mother's Day is available to watch on bbc.co.uk/iplayer