Shooting Star

Tommy Steel is an actor on the popular soap West Vale. He plays bar owner and loveable rogue Jimmy Quinn. With West Vale approaching its live show to celebrate its 1000th episode, Tommy has a huge role in the central storyline and his status as a national treasure is all set. Behind the scenes nothing could be further from the truth. Tommy has a serious cocaine habit, while his constant womanizing has left his relationships in tatters, unbeknownst to their adoring public. He is hated by his co-stars for his arrogance and constant no shows for rehearsals and general diva like behavior. Tommy wakes up one morning to a call from the care home, who tell him that his mother has had a stroke. He tries to call his older sister Amy, a social media influencer & TV Presenter, but she doesn’t pick up. His mother reveals that Amy is actually his mother after falling pregnant at fifteen. She tells him that to avoid ostracization from the local community in the West of Ireland they told the world that Tommy was her son. She then dies in his arms. Amy begs him not to tell the world the truth as it would ruin the life she has made and projected in interviews and as a social media “Influencer” (be true to yourself and the world etc.) He sees it as she has lied to him all his life and profited off his fame and hard work. On the live episode of West Vale Tommy breaks character and tells the millions of viewers that life is fake and full of liars and that they are all “fucking idiots” for wasting their lives watching TV. He goes on to lecture them about being sucked in by social media and spending their whole lives pretending to be people they are not. His whole life falls apart and he is public enemy number one to the whole country. The only person who takes pity on him is his first agent who he dropped when he became famous. Tommy moves in with him and his teenage son, despite them suffering a recent devasting loss. They try and help Tommy make peace with Amy, but can their relationship ever be the same now they are mother and son? Can a cancelled celebrity win back the hearts of the furious public with keyboards ready to explode in angry judgment?