Sheen (in his jim jams) brings some zest to tale of Nye Bevan's triumph

MICHAEL SHEEN'S performance as the creator of the NHS Aneurin Bevan, is, fittingly, a triumph against the odds.

- Nick Curtis

The Welsh Labour MP, known as Nye, faced down doctors, Conservatives led by Sir Winston Churchill and sceptics in his own party to bring in our universal healthcare system in 1948.

Sheen, by turn, is battling a lumpy and obvious script by Tim Price and the challenges of Nye's stutter, school-boyish zeal and "f***ing stupid hair". He's also barefoot and in podgily unflattering pyjamas throughout, like a soft toy bought in haste in a hospital gift shop. Yet his charisma, along with goodwill towards the NHS, gets Rufus Norris's playfully earnest co-production for the National and Wales Millennium Centre over the line.