T.P. McKenna was an actor well recognised for his diversity, but equally, his default was often as not men of intrigue and sinister purpose. For his appearance in 'Beasts' (Ep.6 Baby), though, he was cast as a garrulous country vet, overly fond of his whisky. His character, a likeable, but also buffoonish counterpoint to the encroaching fear and terror faced by mother-to-be, Jo (Jane Wymark).
He knew many such a character from his hometown of Mullagh in Co. Cavan, having observed his father eventually lever them out of the family pub long after closing time. When he bursts into song it is with an unpublished ditty by his father's father about a malingering employee who could only be relied on not to be where he was supposed to be. So much so, the townspeople all knew him as 'Micky [gone] Forever' (see below for the lyrics of the song).
His suggestion of the song was doubly useful. Firstly, there'd be no copyright or royalties issues from its use, and secondly, he was required to sustain the performance off-camera for almost five minutes as coverage for Jo's return to the kitchen, and a further encounter, or not, with her demon. At the end of the take he received a round of applause from the crew.
Only weeks before the recording of Baby, Jane Wymark had played T.P'.s daughter in the John Hopkins drama, Fathers and Families (BBC 1976), while in 1981, T.P. and Simon MacCorkindale would reunite, as father and son, in The Manions of America (1981) with Pierce Brosnan and Anthony Quayle.
© Stephen McKenna 2024
Micky Forever walked all over the land
He walked it all over, his stick in his hand
He walked it all night, and he walked it all day
Lookin' for the white cow that did go away
And when he came back, his master did say
'Where were you all night, where were you all day?'
I've been looking for the white cow that did go away.
'G'wan outta that and I'll give you your pay.'
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