Four Fathers

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}} {{Use British English|date=October 2025}} {{Infobox television | image = | caption = | genre = Drama | creator = | developer = | writer = Bill Gallagher | director = Dermot Boyd | creative_director = | starring = Tony Doyle Tom Bell Neil Dudgeon Stuart McQuarrie Ruth Gemmell Eva Pope Jacquetta May Kate Lonergan Emma Williams | theme_music_composer = | composer = Alan Clark | country = United Kingdom | language = English | num_series = 1 | num_episodes = 3 | executive_producer = Sally Head | producer = Martyn Auty Carol Wilks | editor = Richard Milward | cinematography = Kevin Rowley | camera = | location = Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, UK | runtime = 50 minutes (eps. 1–2) 100 minutes (ep. 3) | company = Sally Head Productions | channel = ITV | first_aired = {{Start date|1999|12|09|df=y}} | last_aired = {{End date|1999|12|21|df=y}} }}

'''''Four Fathers''''' is a British television drama miniseries, comprising two fifty-minute episodes and one one-hundred minute episode, that first broadcast on ITV between 9 and 21 December 1999. The drama serial focused on a quartet of four very different fathers living in a northern town who all have life changing experiences in store.<ref name="Memorable TV">{{cite web |title=Four Fathers (ITV 1999, Tony Doyle, Tom Bell)|url=https://www.memorabletv.com/tv/four-fathers-itv-1999-tony-doyle-tom-bell/|website=Memorable TV|date=4 October 2017|accessdate=15 October 2025}}</ref> First two episodes were broadcast each week during Thursdays and third and final feature length episode was broadcast on Tuesday.

==Cast== * Tony Doyle as Harry Clancy * Tom Bell as Frank Yallop * Neil Dudgeon as Vince Yallop * Stuart McQuarrie as Spud Starkie * Ruth Gemmell as Nicola Yallop * Eva Pope as Kathy Starkie * Jacquetta May as Linda Clancy * Kate Lonergan as Dawn Starkie * Emma Williams as Justine Clancy * Lorraine Pilkington as Christy Bannan * Peter Ryalls as Colin Yallop * Amy Dempsey as Danielle Yallop * Barbara Young as Janice Yallop * Andrew Tiernan as Johnny Starkie

==Episodes== {{Episode table|background=#1034A6|overall=|title=|director=|writer=|airdate=|viewers= |airdateT=British air date|viewersT=UK viewers (million)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/weekly-top-30/|title=Weekly top 30 programmes – BARB|website=Barb.co.uk|accessdate=15 October 2025}}</ref> {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 1 |Title = Episode 1 |DirectedBy = Dermot Boyd |WrittenBy = Bill Gallagher |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1999|12|09|df=y}} |Viewers = 6.88 |ShortSummary = Father-to-be Spud Starkie struggles to keep his nephew on the rails, while Harry Clancy is knocked for six by the arrival of a face from the past, and tensions mount in the household of divorced couple Vince and Nicola Yallop.<ref>{{cite web | website=BFI | title=Episode 1 | date=1999-12-09 | url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150546196 | access-date=2025-10-16}}</ref> |LineColor = 1034A6 }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 2 |Title = Episode 2 |DirectedBy = Dermot Boyd |WrittenBy = Bill Gallagher |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1999|12|16|df=y}} |Viewers = 6.31 |ShortSummary = Dawn is devastated by the revelation that Spud is the father of Kathy's unborn child.<ref>{{cite web | website=BFI | title=Episode 2 | date=1999-12-16 | url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150561692 | access-date=2025-10-16}}</ref> |LineColor = 1034A6 }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 3 |Title = Episode 3 |DirectedBy = Dermot Boyd |WrittenBy = Bill Gallagher |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1999|12|21|df=y}} |Viewers = 6.33 |ShortSummary = Spud is furious when he discovers the identity of Kathy's unborn child; as Harry's daughters meet for the first time, he makes a shocking discovery.<ref>{{cite web | website=BFI | title=Episode 3 | date=1999-12-21 | url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150565129 | access-date=2025-10-16}}</ref> |LineColor = 1034A6 }} }}

==Reception== ===Critical reception===

===Accolades=== Tony Doyle was won for Best Drama Actor and Phelps for Best Actor at the 2000 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards sharing with BBC TV series ''Ballykissangel''.<ref>{{cite web| title=BPG TV & Radio Awards 2000| url=http://www.broadcastingpressguild.org/bpg-awards/2000-2/| website=broadcastingpressguild.org| date=31 December 2007| access-date=16 October 2025}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|id=0227901|title=Four Fathers}}

Category:1999 British television series debuts Category:1999 British television series endings Category:1990s British drama television series Category:1990s British television miniseries Category:English-language British television shows Category:ITV television dramas Category:ITV miniseries Category:Television series by Fremantle (company) Category:Television shows set in Sheffield