THE moving portrayal of former Redcar MP Mo Mowlam by actress Julie Walters has been praised for its touching depiction.

The TV drama captured the distinctive politicians "wacky" personality, according to her successor Vera Baird.

She said: "Julie Walters becomes Mo. She walks like her, talks like her and, in the end, cries as if she had suffered all the bitterness of Mos situation. It was very touching especially the portrait of Jon and her together.

"Mo had a superb political mind as well as the wacky personality with which she broke the ice in Northern Ireland and won everybody's hearts. I think that aspect of her doesn't emerge strongly enough and the bitterness towards the end of her life is overdone."

The two-hour drama, which was screened on Channel 4 on Sunday night, covered Mo's remarkable political career.

She added: "The film is superb but it throws little new light on a complex personality who played a huge role on the world political stage. The only extra clue is in the scene where she tells her stepdaughter at Hillsborough, that her father's alcoholism taught her that the worst thing is not being in control.

"I think that, more than the film depicts, she regained control of her life in the few years before she died."